to increasing rates of saccharification before sugar conversion to bioproducts a wide range of materials have been utilized for pretreatment including acids e g sulfuric acid ammonia carbon dioxide organic solvents and ionic liquids pretreatment opens the complex recalcitrant structure of ligno cellulosic materials by removing the lignin and hemi cellulose layers that surround the crystalline cellulosic core pretreatment also opens the crystalline cellulose structure after pretreatment enzymatic saccharification occurs at dramatically higher rates which reduces processing times and equipment sizes to meet the targets for bioethanol production large quantities of biomass must be processed this will require large volumes of pretreatment chemicals process economics require special attention to the recovery and disposal of these materials ideally pretreatment chemicals would be recovered purified and recycled thereby avoiding waste disposal additionally water is used as a solvent throughout the process water usage is greater than pretreatment chemical usage so processes that permit water recycle are equally desirable ionic liquids ils offer a rapid efficient solvent for pretreating biomass for saccharification exemplary ils may be found for example in u s patent application publication no 20090011473 to varanasi et al the ils may be categorized based on the structure of the cations or anions many of these ils are effective in biomass pretreatment recovery and recycle of pretreatment chemicals and.