In this study, bioethanol production from NaOH/H2O2-pretreated water hyacinth was investigated. Pretreatment of water hyacinth with 1.5% (v/v) H2O2 and 3% (w/v) NaOH at 25 degrees C increased the production of reducing sugars (223.53 mg/g dry) and decreased the cellulose crystallinity (12.18%), compared with 48.67 mg/g dry and 22.80% in the untreated sample, respectively. The newly isolated Kluyveromyces marxianu K213 showed greater ethanol production from glucose (0.43 g/g glucose) at 45 degrees C than did the control Saccharomyces cerevisiae angel yeast. The maximum ethanol concentration (7.34 g/L) achieved with K. marxianu K213 by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) from pretreated water hyacinth at 42 degrees C was 1.78-fold greater than that produced by angel yeast S. cerevisiae at 30 degrees C. The present work demonstrates that bioethanol production achieved via SSF of NaOH/H2O2-pretreated water hyacinth with K. marxianu K213 is a promising strategy to utilize water hyacinth biomass. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.