Steam explosion (SE) pretreatment is served to separate the main components of woody biomass. In general there is a noticeable gap in literature in terms of application of steam explosion process to upgrade biomass fuel for wood pellet production. In order to study the influence of steam explosion pretreatment on biomass fuel, Salix wood chips was used as raw material. Four different SE experiments were performed by varying two key process factors; time and temperature. Elementary quality and ash properties of the pretreated residue were investigated. Moreover, physical and thermochemical properties of the pellet, produced from the residue, were also investigated. Reduction in ash content especially in alkali metals was observed in steam treated residue. Pretreatment of biomass also enhanced carbon content and reduced oxygen amount in the fuel which enhanced the heating value of the fuel. Moreover, pretreatment enhanced pellet density, impact resistance, and abrasive resistance of pellet. However, small degradation in ash fusion characteristics and char reactivity was also observed as the severity of the process increased. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.