The present work deals the production of 2,3-butanediol, an industrially important chemical, through biological route using a novel bacterial isolate. Batch fermentation trials for the production of 2,3-butanediol were carried out using the isolated strain Enterobacter cloacae SG-1. The study resulted 14.67 g/l of 2,3-butanediol with 48.9% yield using glucose as the carbon source. In order to replace the expensive glucose in the production media, non-detoxified oil palm frond hydrolysate was used as the carbon source and it resulted 2,3-butanediol yield of 7.67 g/l. Process parameters like pH, temperature and initial sugar concentration were optimized. The ability of strain E. cloacae SG-1 for utilization various pentoses and hexoses were evaluated and found that the strain can utilize both arabinose and glucose with a comparable 2,3-butanediol yield. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.