Water extract of steam-exploded corn stalk (SECS) was detoxified and used as feed for acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation using Clostridium beijerinckii. Utilization of water extract improved the total ABE yield (g ABE/g dry SECS). Separated fermentation showed higher fermentability (0.078 g ABE/g dry SECS) over typical fermentation (0.058 g ABE/g dry SECS). Furthermore, the final ABE yields (g ABE/g utilized sugar) from water extract neutralized by Ca(OH)(2), NaOH, and Na2SO3 were 0.16, 0.1 and 0.07, respectively, suggesting that Ca(OH)(2) had the best detoxification effect.