Citric acid is an organic tri-carboxylic acid with a chemical formula C 6H 8O 7 and is an entirely intermediate product of plant and animal metabolism. Citric acid is widely used in food, beverages, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals among other industries. Citric acid helps in improving the acidulation, anti-oxidation, preservatives, flavor enhancement and other industries. The market is growing in terms of demands and consumption approximately 5% every year. Food and pharmaceutical industries are the maximum contributors of the market segment. The report studies various applications of the citric acid in food and pharmaceutical industrial sectors along with production procedures.

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Citric acid is an organic tri-carboxylic acid with a chemical formula C 6H 8O 7 and is an entirely intermediate product of plant and animal metabolism. Citric acid is widely used in food, beverages, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals among other industries. Citric acid helps in improving the acidulation, anti-oxidation, preservatives, flavor enhancement and other industries. The market is growing in terms of demands and consumption approximately 5% every year. Food and pharmaceutical industries are the maximum contributors of the market segment. The report studies various applications of the citric acid in food and pharmaceutical industrial sectors along with production procedures.

Citric acid is one of the most important organic acid that is produced by various fermentation processes. Citric acid is found in abundance in all plants and animals. The commercial production of citric acids can be traced back to England through imported Italian lemons. Citric acid is used in various applications like food, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries and is a major substrate for the development of developing a range of products that mainly act as acidulant. The recent years have seen an increased interest in use of the natural resources for production of the citric acid. These natural resources mainly are fruits that provide a pleasant fragrance and flavor to various food and beverage items. It is also used in additive detergents, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and toiletries. Citric acid is an age-old industrial fermented product and is produced through a series of the fermentation process.

The phenomena that is Citric acid accumulation has many theories and there have numerous explanations associated with it, none of them completely explain the process. Some relatable theories are, citric acid is collected by an induced abnormality in the metabolism of acid cycle (TCA) which is also known as the citric acid cycle. This cycle is a cyclic sequence of reactions in the aerobic organism. The catalyzation process done by a multi-enzyme system that accepts the acetyl-co of the acetyl group, as fuel and members yield CO2 and hydrogen atoms. At every cycle, one molecule of acetic acid enters as acetyl-Co enzymes that condenses with a molecule of acetic acid to enter the acetyl-Co enzyme, to further reduce along with a molecule of compound of 4 carbon oxalo-acetic acid to form citric acid that is a 6 carbon compound. This is a continuous process that generates an acidic reaction.

Citric acid is used across various industries like cosmetics, foods, beverages and toiletries. The food and pharmaceutical industries use almost 60% acid produced mainly due to its overall feature of safety, good acid taste, and solubility in high water as well as chelating features.

Applications of Citric Acid in various Food and Pharmaceutical Industries

Citric acid by nature is versatile and harmless alimentary additive that is bland and is accepted across the world as generally recognized as safe (GRAS) and is approved by a joint FAO/WHO organizations. In this section of the document we would understand the basic use of citric acid in the food industry.

In Food Industries the major role of citric acid is in the form of effective Food Preservatives. The reduced pH value results in protective effect on the pigments of fruit juice. Citric acid helps to improve the shelf-life of the frozen sea food. Citric acid also enhances the color and flavor decorations of the frozen fruits. Stabilization of color in strawberry fountain syrups. Citric acid is also used in enhancing the tartness and natural flavors of grapes. Citric acid is also used in the processing of fruits for frozen packets available at retail stores. Peeling of fruits is important and for that water washing is done to remove the lye components. Dipping of fruits and vegetables in citric acid (1-2%) solutions. To remove the residual lye effect. As the leftover alkali abolishes the natural ascorbic acid, it is essential that it is neutralized. Citric acid in combination with D-erythorbic acid (D-araboascorbic acid), when added to different fruits like apricots, peaches, pears, plums, and cherries guards it from an oxidation process causing changes in color and flavors. Citric acid adjustment in the pH levels to the best (3.0 to 3.5) but also adds flavor and refreshing properties that has made it extremely popular in the food industry. As citric acid occurs in natural form in fruits, it is preferred as acidulant across all types of carbonated and still beverages. Jellies, jams are some uses wherein Citric acid acts as preservatives. Soft drink tables that contain citric acid, an alkaline salt and a sweetening agent similar flavors are available in the market which just fizzes and gets dissolved in water. These applications of citric acid across various industries has increased the market demand.

the Pharmaceutical Industry is another industry segment that widely uses citric acid as a standard component in formulations of cosmetics. It is used to balance the presence of pH adjustment and as antioxidant systems that contain metallic-ion chelator. Citrate helps in building detergent and hence it is used in the fast paced biodegradable environmentally suitable phosphate substitute in detergent powders. Citrate-ion is swiftly oxidized in the human metabolism system and less than 1% is excreted unchanged in the urine. Citric acid is also used in pharmaceuticals provisions as an acidulant and to improve the flavor of syrups and solutions. The free citric acid is also used as an acidulant in mild astringent preparations.

Conclusion:

With the increased demand across various sectors of industry, citric acid manufacturing is ready to grow. Reports indicate last production quantity to be approximately around 1.4 million tons per year and is expected to grow every year. As mentioned in the document above, the demand for citric acid is growing due to increased application in various segments of food and pharmaceutical industries. Citric acid is either procured by natural sources or through a process like fermentation. However, there is a lot of research and development happening in the fermentation process and is continuously being studied to identify innovative ways for the production of citric acid.