RESUMO
Eucalyptus hemicellulose was hydrolyzed by treating eucalyptus wood chips with sulfuric acid. The hydrolyzate was used as the substrate to produce single-cell protein by growing Paecilomyces variotii IOC-3764 for 72 or 96 h. The influences of rice bran, ammonium sulfate and fermentation time were verified by a 23 full-factorial central composite design. At the optimum process conditions, the cell concentration was 12.06 g/l, which was obtained when the microorganisms were cultivated for 89 h in a medium composed of 10 g/l rice bran, 2.0 g/l nitrogen and 1.1 g/l sodium phosphate. The mathematical model Y = 10.65 + 2.40X2 + 2.36X3 + 1.16X2X3 - 2.10X2(2) - 1.06X3(2) describes biomass production by P. variotii in eucalyptus hemicellulosic hydrolyzate with a determination coefficient of R2 = 0.9561, where X2 and X3 are ammonium sulfate and fermentation time, respectively.