Citric acid: Microbial production and applications in food and pharmaceutical industries

Manas R. Swain, Ramesh C. Ray, Jayanta K. Patra

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

Citric acid (2-hydroxy 2, 3-propanetricarboxylic acid) is a tricarboxylicacid and a universal intermediate product of plant and animalmetabolism. Citric acid is used as an acidifying agent and has wideapplications in food, beverage, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and otherindustries for acidulation, anti-oxidation, flavour enhancement,preservation, plasticizer, and as a synergistic agent. Among the organicacids, citric acid is the most important in quantitative term with anestimated annual production of about 1.4 million tonnes. The annualgrowth of its demand/consumption rate is around 3.5-4.0 %. The foodand pharmaceutical industries consume about 70 and 12%, respectively ofthe total citric acid produced, and the remaining 18 % is consumed by other industries. Conventionally, it is produced by surface and submergedfermentation processes using chemically defined media or molasses asraw material by microorganisms such as Aspergillus niger, A.accumulate, Yarrowia lipolytica, etc. However, recent research hasshown that citric acid can also be produced by solid state fermentationusing agricultural residues such as sugar cane and cassava bagasse, andfood producing solid residues such as grape and apple pomace. Thedemand for this particular metabolite is increasing day by day whichrequires more efficient fermentation process and genetically modifiedmicroorganisms for higher yield and purity.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCitric Acid
Subtitle of host publicationSynthesis, Properties and Applications
PublisherNova Science Publishers, Inc.
Pages97-118
Number of pages22
ISBN (Print)9781621003533
StatePublished - Jan 2012

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