Economic feasibility of bioethanol production relies on the yeast’s capacity to ferment lignocellulosic hydrolysate, which contains sugars (hexose and pentose) and inhibitory compounds such as furans (5- hydroxymethyl-2-furfuraldehyde and 2-furaldehyde) and weak acids (formic, acetic acid and levulinic acid). One of the challenges for the production of bioethanol is the lack of organism able to ferment total sugar into ethanol. Fermentative yeast, S. cerevisiae is the preferred organism for conversion of sugars to ethanol but compared to Pichia to Kluyveromyces, it lacks potential to ferment pentoses. The aim of this study was to screen Pichia to Kluyveromyces species for sugar utilisation and inhibitor tolerance with the intention of identifying a promising organism for bioethanol production or an organism that can be used as an ethanolgen or as gene "donor". P. etchellsii (NeVe 740) and K. marxianus (NeVe 179) demonstrated their potential to use pentose and hexose efficiently and might act either as "gene donors" or as an ethanolgen.