NOVELTY - Producing a target chemical from biomass involves contacting biomass with an aqueous solution containing ammonia (less than 12 wt.%) at a concentration at least sufficient to maintain alkaline pH of the biomass-aqueous ammonia mixture where the dry weight of biomass is at a high solid concentration of at least 15 wt.% relative to the weight of the biomass-aqueous ammonia mixture; contacting the product with a saccharification enzyme consortium to produce fermentable sugars; and contacting sugar with biocatalyst(s) able to ferment the sugars to produce the target chemical.    USE - For producing a target chemical such as acid, alcohol, alkane, alkene, aromatic, aldehyde, ketone, biopolymer, proteins, peptide, amino acid, vitamin, antibiotic and pharmaceuticals (preferably methanol, ethanol, propanol, isopropanol, butanol, ethylene glycol, propanediol, butanediol, glycerol, erythritol, xylitol, sorbitol, acetic acid, lactic acid, propionic acid, 3-hydroxypropionic acid, butyric acid, gluconic acid, itaconic acid, citric acid, succinic acid, levulinic acid, glutamic acid, aspartic acid, methionine, lysine, glycine, arginine, threonine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, methane, ethylene, acetone and industrial enzymes) from biomass e.g. bioenergy crops, agricultural residues, municipal solid waste, industrial solid waste, yard waste or wood and forestry waste such as switchgrass, waste paper, sludge from paper manufacture, corn grain, corn cobs, corn husks, corn stover, grasses, wheat, wheat straw, hay, barley, barley straw, rice straw, sugar cane bagasse, sorghum, soy, components obtained from processing of grains, trees, branches, roots, leaves, wood chips, sawdust, shrubs and bushes, vegetables, fruits, flowers and animal manure (claimed).    ADVANTAGE - The use of ammonia reduces requirement to supplement growth medium used during fermentation with a nitrogen source. Ammonia is a low-cost material and can be recycled to a pretreatment reactor thus enables economical process. The high biomass concentration also reduces the total volume of the pretreatment material, making the process more economical.