A thermotolerant ethanol-fermenting yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae KNU5377, isolated from a sludge of a local industrial complex stream in Korea, was evaluated for its capability for lignocellulosic ethanol production from waste newsprint in high temperature. In this fermentation, most of dry-defibrated waste newspaper was first saccharified at 50 degrees C for 108 h using a commercial cellulase and, then with the last addition of dry-defibrated newsprints to the pre-saccharified broth, simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) of 1.0 L of reaction mixture was carried out at 40 degrees C, slowly being dropped from 50 degrees C, for further 72 h in a 5 L fermentor by inoculating the overnight culture of KNU5377. The maximum production of 8.4% (v/v) ethanol was obtained when 250 g (w/v)/L of dry-defibrated waste newspaper was used for ethanol production by SSF. These results suggest that S. cerevisiae KNU5377 is very useful for cellulose ethanol production by the SSF system. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.