High glucose concentrations result in high levels of 2,3-butanediol, improved yield and productivity, and a decrease in cell growth in batch cultures of Klebsiella oxytoca. A maximum of 84.2 g butanediol/l and a yield of 0.5 was obtained with an initial glucose concentration of 262.6g/l. Adding the substrate in two steps in a modified fed-batch operation resulted in 85.5 g butanediol/l, 6.4 g acetoin/l and 3.4 g ethanol/l with a net yield of 0.5. Increasing the cell density to 60g/l resulted in productivities as high as 3.22 g/l.h.