The leaves of Agave tequilana Weber variety Blue represent a viable, inexpensive, and renewable source of lignocellulosic biomass and fructans for the production of second generation biofuels. The objective was to study the effect of drying temperature on the release of reducing sugars for the agave leaves. It was found that with pretreatment‐drying at 100°C for 30.5 ± 1.0 min had a maximum of the release of reducing sugars with a 66% increment compared to 60°C. An aqueous extract obtained from the powder of the leaves after drying did not show the presence of furfural and hydroxymethylfurfural compounds. Phenolic compounds were detected in order of 120.8 ± 1.0 mg L−1 below 1 g L−1 reported to cause inhibition of the alcoholic fermentation. In addition the drying of the leaves also can be used as preservation of agave leaf for biomass storing. The results show that pretreatment‐drying allow increase the release of reducing sugars, avoids thermal degradation and does not produce significant concentrations of fermentation inhibitors. Practical Applications The research in industrial waste materials has received special attention worldwide because it is potential for production of biofuels. This study propose a simple method of drying that acts as a thermal pretreatment of Agave tequilana Weber variety Blue leaves that increases the release of reducing sugars, avoids thermal degradation, not produce significant concentrations of fermentation inhibitors for ethanol production and can be used as a preservation method for storing biomass of the agave leaves. The results would be useful not only in the energy field but also in the alimentary and pharmaceutical industry. Fructans and phenolic compounds found in the agave are used as functional ingredients in the food industry and also bioactive compounds that by themselves promotes future research for the Agave tequilana.

A depolarization scalar metric for Mueller matrices, named QðMÞ, is derived from the degree of polarization. QðMÞ has been recently reported, and it has been deduced from the nine bilinear constraints between the sixteen elements of the Mueller-Jones matrix. We discuss the relations between QðMÞ and the depolarization index.

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A simple depolarization criterion for light is proposed. This criterion is based on the depolarization part derived from the degree of polarization formulation. Some reported Mueller matrices are employed to test its reliability and usefulness. Results prove that the criterion proposed can be employed as the first step to test the physical consistency of Mueller matrices.