Ferulic acid production from clove oil by Pseudomonas fluorescens E118.

For the production of the useful antioxidant ferulic acid from clove oil containing abundant eugenol, the growth of eugenol-degrading microorganisms in the presence of clove oil was examined. Pseudomonas fluorescens E118, a clove-oil-tolerant strain, accumulated 6.1 g/l ferulic acid under optimized culture conditions with the intermittent addition of eugenol. When the bacterium was applied to ferulic acid production from clove oil, 5.8 g/l ferulic acid was produced with the intermittent addition of clove oil. Since clove oil is much cheaper than eugenol, ferulic acid production from clove oil by the bacterium is promising for the industrial production of ferulic acid.