PRODUCTION OF CITRIC ACID FROM PINEAPPLE WASTE USING

FERMENTATION PROCESS

INTRODUCTION

Citric Acid is a weak organic acid that can be found in citrus fruits mostly used in food
and pharmaceutical industry as acidulant, antioxidant, emulsifier or preservative. Its annual
global demand is approximately 2 million tons and a local demand of 22,000 tons. Citric acid
supply in the Philippines is possible through importation.

Pineapple ranked as the tenth most produced fruit in the world and the Philippines
become the world’s third biggest exporter by 2016. Meanwhile, it was estimated that a third of
the fruit is considered to be waste. Prior to its abundance in the country, pineapple waste has
been chosen as the raw material for the production of citric acid.

PROCESS

The pineapple waste will be grounded using double runner mill. It is then allowed to react
with Aspergillus niger, a fungus which can be cultured by inoculation of potato dextrose agar,
through solid-state fermentation process. The following reactions are found to occur:

The biomass is separated from the solution containing citric acid, unreacted sugar and
other impurities in a rotary drum vacuum filter. The fermentation broth from the filter is stored in
a buffer tank to make sure that the following downstream processes may be operated
continuously. From the buffer tank, the fermentation broth loses much of its water when it
undergoes evaporation in a triple-effect evaporator. After this, it goes through an SMB
(Simulated Moving Bed) unit where it is stripped of sugar and other impurities. Deionized water
supplied using four columns packed with different kinds of resins and heated by a shell-and-
tube-heat exchanger is used as adsorbent in the SMB.

The clarified fermentation broth is then cooled and allowed to crystallize in a forced
circulation crystallizer. The crystallized mixture is separated into its components, crystals and
mother liquor in a peeler centrifuge. The crystals are dried in a rotary drier using heated air as
drying medium, previously heated using steam in a shell-and-tube-heat exchanger. From here,
the dry citric acid crystals are transported to packaging.

Reference: https://www.scribd.com/document/328155067/Citric-Acid-Production-From-
Pineapple-Waste-Through-Solid-State-Fermentation