Statistical modeling and optimization of dilute sulfuric acid hydrolysis of olive tree pruning biomass has been performed using response surface methodology. Central composite rotatable design was applied to assess the effect of acid concentration, reaction time and temperature on efficiency and selectivity of hemicellulosic monomeric carbohydrates to D-xylose. Second-order polynomial model was fitted to experimental data to find the optimum reaction conditions by multiple regression analysis. The monomeric D-xylose recovery 85% (as predicted by the model) was achieved under optimized hydrolysis conditions (1.27% acid concentration, 96.5 degrees C and 138 min), confirming the high validity of the developed model. The content of ID-glucose (8.3%) and monosaccharide degradation products (0.1% furfural and 0.04% 5-hydroxymethylfurfural) provided a high quality subtract, ready for subsequent biochemical conversion to value-added products. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.