Hot water pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass: Modeling the effects of temperature, enzyme and biomass loadings on sugar yield.

•Liquid hot water pretreatment tested on high-yielding tropical perennial C4 crops.•65% inhibitor-free glucose yield from solid fraction of Energycane.•73% inhibitor-free glucose yield from solid fraction of Napiergrass.•4.2 and 0.6 g L−1 HMF produced by Energycane and Napiergrass at 200 °C.•4.6 and 3.6 g L−1 Furfural produced by Energycane and Napiergrass at 200 °C.