TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INSTRUMENTATION AND TESTING - Preferred Method: The solid/liquid separation comprises at least one of a decanting centrifuge, a filter press, a vibratory screen, a hydrocyclone or a belt filter. The membrane filtration comprises at least one of ultrafiltration, diafiltration, nanofiltration or reverse osmosis. The pretreatment comprises auto-hydrolysis has a severity of 3.6-4.5.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Method: The sugar rich process stream is treated by solid/liquid separation to obtain the lignin stream and the lignin reduced sugar rich process stream. The step (c) further comprises treating the lignin reduced sugar rich process stream to recover enzymes utilized in the second enzymatic hydrolysis process and obtaining a recovered second stage enzyme stream and a first enzyme reduced sugar rich process stream and step (d) comprises fermenting the enzyme reduced sugar rich process stream. The method further comprises recycling at least some of the recovered second stage enzyme stream to the first enzymatic hydrolysis process; combining the first enzyme reduced sugar rich process stream and the second enzyme reduced sugar rich process stream to obtain a combined enzyme reduced sugar rich process stream and subjecting the combined enzyme reduced sugar rich process stream to fermentation; treating the effluent stream to reduce the level of at least one hydrolysis inhibiting compound and obtaining an inhibitor reduced stream and a treated effluent stream where step (b) comprises subjecting the inhibitor reduced stream to the second enzymatic hydrolysis process; treating the treated effluent stream to recover enzymes utilized in the first enzymatic hydrolysis process and obtaining a recovered first stage enzyme stream and an enzyme reduced effluent stream and recycling at least some of the recovered first stage enzyme stream to the second enzymatic hydrolysis process, where the treated effluent stream is filtered to obtain the recovered first stage enzyme stream, and by subjecting the treated effluent stream to membrane filtration; subjecting the treated effluent stream to fermentation; treating the treated effluent stream to remove fermentation inhibitory compounds and then subjecting the inhibitor reduced stream to fermentation, where the treated effluent stream is treated to remove at least one of acetic acid, furfural, hydroxymethylfurfural or phenolic compounds; pre-treating the lignocellulosic feedstock by subjecting cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin containing material to a preliminary hydrolysis treatment and obtaining the lignocellulosic feedstock; and subjecting cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin containing material to pretreatment followed by disc refining and obtaining the feedstock. The lignin reduced sugar rich process stream is treated by at least one membrane separation step to recover enzymes utilized in the second enzymatic hydrolysis process, where the membrane separation step comprises at least one of ultrafiltration, diafiltration, nanofiltration or reverse osmosis. The lignin reduced sugar rich process stream is subjected to at least one membrane separation step to obtain the recovered second stage enzyme stream and the first enzyme reduced sugar rich process stream, where the membrane separation step comprises ultrafiltration. The recovered second stage enzyme stream is subjected to at least one membrane separation step to obtain an inhibitor reduced recovered enzyme stream and a second enzyme reduced sugar rich process stream, where the membrane separation step comprises diafiltration. The first enzyme reduced sugar rich process stream and the second enzyme reduced sugar rich process stream comprise monomeric and/or oligomeric sugars. The effluent stream is subjected to solid/liquid separation to obtain the treated effluent stream, where the treated effluent stream is a liquid stream and the inhibitor reduced stream is a solid stream, and the inhibitor reduced stream comprises partially hydrolyzed lignocellulosic feedstock. Preferred Components: The hydrolysis inhibiting compound comprises at least one of glucose, gluco-oligosaccharides, xylose, xylo-oligosaccharides, furfural, hydroxymethylfurfural, organic acids, soluble lignin or phenolic compounds; or acetic acid, furfural or hydroxymethylfurfural. The hydrolysis inhibiting compound comprises monomeric and/or oligomeric sugars. EXAMPLE - No suitable example given.