Technical Abstract: A recombinant strain of Escherichia coli FBR5 was characterized for ethanol production from xylose in batch reactors. Up to a salt (NaCl) concentration of 10 gL**-1, the culture exhibited no inhibition. Above 10 gL**-1 of salt concentration, the culture experienced inhibition, and the maximum concentration of salt that E. coli FBR5 could tolerate was 40 gL**-1. At 40 gL**-1 NaCl concentration, the value of umax was reduced by a factor of 5. The culture could tolerate a maximum xylose concentration of 250 gL**-1; however, at that concentration a reduced cell growth was obtained. A maximum cell concentration of 0.30 gL**-1 was obtained at this sugar concentration as compared to 0.75 gL**-1 at 100 gL**-1 initial xylose. As the concentration of xylose increased, ethanol specific productivity (v) decreased from 0.98 to 0.70 h**-1. In these experiments, a maximum yield of 0.50 (g ethanol g**-1 xylose) was achieved with a productivity of 0.73 gL**-1h**-1. Ethanol inhibition studies suggested that the maximum tolerance of the culture was 50 gL**-1 ethanol. However, the maximum ethanol that could be produced was 43.5 gL**-1. In pH controlled experiments, the maximum ethanol productivity of 0.90 gL**-1h**-1 was obtained. The value of Km (Michaelis-Menten constant) was evaluated to be 4.38 gL**-1.