Consolidated bioprocessing (CBP), which merges enzyme production, biomass hydrolysis, and fermentation into a single step, has the potential to become an efficient and economic strategy for the bioconversion of lignocellulosic feedstocks to transportation fuels or chemicals. In this study, we evaluated <
 i>
 Clostridium thermocellum<
 /i>
 , <
 i>
 Caldicellulosiruptor bescii<
 /i>
 , and <
 i>
 Caldicellulosiruptor obsidiansis<
 /i>
 , three , thermophilic,cellulolytic, mixed-acid fermenting candidate CBP microorganisms, for their fermentation capabilities using dilute acid pretreated <
 i>
 Populus<
 /i>
  as a model biomass feedstock. Under pH controlled, anaerobic fermentation conditions, each candidate successfully digested a minimum of 75% of the cellulose from dilute acid pretreated <
 i>
 Populus<
 /i>
 , as indicated by an increase in planktonic cells and end-product metabolites and a concurrent decrease in glucan content. <
 i>
 C. thermocellum<
 /i>
 , which employs a cellulosomal approach to biomass degradation, required 120 hours to achieve 75% cellulose utilization. In contrast, the non-cellulosomal, secreted hydrolytic enzyme system of the <
 i>
 Caldicellulosiruptor<
 /i>
  sp. required 300 hours to achieve similar results. End-point fermentation conversions for <
 i>
 C. thermocellum<
 /i>
 , <
 i>
 C. bescii<
 /i>
 , and <
 i>
 C. obsidiansis<
 /i>
  were determined to be 0.29, 0.34, and 0.38 grams of total metabolites per gram of loaded glucan, respectively. This data provide a starting point for future strain engineering efforts that can serve to improve the biomass fermentation capabilities of these three promising candidate CBP platforms.