The production of epsilon-PL by Kitasatospora sp. MY 5-36 through entrapment or adsorption on bagasse, synthetic sponge, macroporous silica gel, and loofah sponge was investigated in shake flask cultures, and immobilization on loofah sponge gave the highest epsilon-PL production. Repeated fed-batch cultures for epsilon-PL production were also carried out in a stirred bioreactor and final epsilon-PL concentrations and productivity of 34.11 g L(-1) and 9.34 g L(-1) d(-1), respectively were achieved by cells immobilize in loofah sponge. These values exceeded those for cultures with free cells (22.53 g L(-1) and 3.30 g L(-1) d(-1)). The immobilized cells were reused five times over a period of 526 h. These results suggest that the immobilization approach is promising for industrial applications. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.