<P><B>Abstract</B></P> <P>Elephant grass was subjected to steam explosion to enhance cellulose accessibility and convert it into ethanol. After catalyzed pretreatment at 190 °C for 5 min, enzymatic hydrolysis was carried out using high rate of solid loading combined with different enzyme dosages. Assays employing 20% (<I>w/v</I>) solids loading and an enzyme dosage of 20 FPU g<SUP>−1</SUP> substrate led to a yield of 86.02 g glucose released per 100 g potential glucose in the water insoluble solids. This condition was selected to carry out the simultaneous saccharification and fermentation procedure through <I>S. cerevisiae</I> CAT-1, producing 42.25 g L<SUP>−1</SUP> ethanol with a yield of 74.57% regard to the maximum theoretical. The liquor containing C5 and C6-sugars was successfully converted into lactic acid using <I>L. buchneri</I> NRRL B-30929, resulting in 13.35 g L<SUP>−1</SUP> with a yield of 68.21% in relation to the maximum theoretical.</P> <P><B>Highlights</B></P> <P> <UL> <LI> A biorefinery platform was designed to use elephant grass for fuels and chemicals. </LI> <LI> Pretreatment and hydrolysis with high solid load resulted in high sugar contents. </LI> <LI> Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation led to high ethanol yield. </LI> <LI> Lactic acid was produced in parallel from pentoses conversion in the liquor. </LI> </UL> </P>