In this work the behavior of the growth of Candida guilliermondii FTI 20037 in sugar cane bagasse hemicellulosic hydrolysate on various oxygen transfer rates was investigated. The yeast was able to grow and produced xylitol at different performance levels. At 1.0 vvm (volume of air per volume of medium per minute) the highest growth with 24.4 g/l was observed, but no xylitol was produced. At aeration rate of 0.5 vvm the growth was lower, but therefore slight amounts of xylitol (xylitol yield factor-Yp/s = 0.15 g/g) were observed. The lowest cell concentration (10.7 g/l) and the highest xylitol yield (Yp/s = 0.46 g/g) was observed when aeration was changed from 0.5 vvm to 0.05 vvm after 14 h.