NOVELTY - Process (p1) for producing energy-dense biomass and fermentable sugars from cellulosic biomass, comprises: (a) providing a feedstock containing cellulosic biomass; (b) extracting the feedstock with steam and/or hot water; (c) separating at least a portion of the cellulose-rich solids from the obtained extract liquor; (d) hydrolyzing the obtained dewatered cellulose-rich solids, thus removing a portion of cellulose contained in it; (e) drying the obtained intermediate solids to produce energy-dense biomass; and (f) recovering fermentable sugars from the hydrolyzate.    USE - The process is useful for producing energy-dense biomass and fermentable sugars from cellulosic biomass (claimed), where the energy-dense biomass is useful for combustion, and the fermentable hemicellulose sugars are useful to produce biochemicals or biofuels including ethanol, 1-butanol, isobutanol, acetic acid, lactic acid or any other fermentation products.    ADVANTAGE - The process: provides removal of cellulose in step (d) which increases the energy content of the energy-dense biomass, compared to an otherwise-identical process that does not include step (d) (claimed); and has good potential to recover various co-products e.g. fertilizers and lignin.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Process (p1) for producing energy-dense biomass and fermentable sugars from cellulosic biomass, comprises: (a) providing a feedstock containing cellulosic biomass; (b) extracting the feedstock with steam and/or hot water under effective extraction conditions to produce an extract liquor containing hemicellulosic oligomers, dissolved lignin and cellulose-rich solids; (c) separating at least a portion of the cellulose-rich solids from the extract liquor, to produce dewatered cellulose-rich solids; (d) hydrolyzing the dewatered cellulose-rich solids, thus removing a portion of cellulose contained in it, to produce intermediate solids and a hydrolyzate; (e) drying the intermediate solids to produce energy-dense biomass; and (f) recovering fermentable sugars from the hydrolyzate. INDEPENDENT CLAIMS are also included for:    (1) producing biomass pellets and fermentable sugars from cellulosic biomass, comprising steps (a)-(e) as above per se, pelletizing the energy-dense biomass to form the biomass pellets, and step (f) as above per se; and    (2) a process (p2) for producing energy-dense biomass and fermentable sugars from an agricultural residue, comprising providing a feedstock containing an agricultural residue, steps (b)-(f) as above per se.