FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND PROCESS ENGINEERING

KKKB2424, KKKR2034, KKKR2324, KKKR2364

BIOCHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRAM

REPORT TITLE:

PRODUCTION OF CITRIC ACID

KKKB2424 : PROF DR JAMALIAH MD JAHIM

KKKR2034: PROF DR MEOR ZAINAH & DR MASLI IRWAN ROSLI
KKKR2324: PROF IR DR MASTURAH MARKOM & DR DARMAN NORDIN
KKKR2364: DR MOHD SHAHBUDIN MASDAR

GROUP 3
GROUP MEMBERS

NAME MATRIC NO.

MUHAMMAD KHAIRIL AZIM BIN ABDULLAH A133275
SONIA DILIP PATEL A133115
WONG MEI FANG A132213
ZURAIFAH BINTI MINHAT A132221
 INTRODUCTION
• Citric acid
– Citric acid is a week organic acid found in citrus fruits
– Molecular formula is C6H8O7 and belongs to the carboxylic acids
groups
– Stronger acid compared to other typical carboxylic acid.Produced by
fermentation and suitable pH is around 3-6

• Application In Industry
– Beverages
– Food
– Pharmaceutical
– Agriculture
– Metal Industry Structural Formula of Citric Acid
 SOURCE OF RAW MATERIALS
Beet Molasses Aspergillus Niger
• the source of sugar for microbial • filamentous ascomycete fungus
production of citric acid • maintained at pH 4.5 and temperature
• low cost and high sugar content at 5 °C
• low content of trace metals • The best strain for citric acid
• acts as carbon source of the production
fermentation • Scientific classification of A.niger
Domain Eucaryotes
Microorganism Kingdom Fungi
• mycomycetes of A.niger species Phylum Ascomycota
can produce high yield Subphylum Pezizomycotina
• consequence of incomplete Class Eurotiomycetes
respiration Order Eurotiales
Family Trichocomaceae
Genus Aspergillus
Species A.Niger
 DEMAND AND SUPPLY
Global Citric Acid Demand and Supply
Graph
• The high demand in citric acid is the
wide usage as acidulent in food and
3.5 beverage industry.
3 • In the 1980s, U.S.A has been the
leading country in producing citric
2.5 acid. But, in the year of 1995, the
metric tonnes (million)

Demand Chinese production volume of citric

2
acid has surpasses that of United
1.5 Production
States (Connor 2008) due to the
lower cost of raw materials and the
1 lower price of citric acid.
• In the year of 2007, worldwide
0.5
annual production was
0
approximately 1.7 million metric
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 tons. According to Carlos (2006), the
Year
production rate of citric acid has
growth of 3.5 to 4.0% per year.
 PROCESS DESCRIPTION

1. Inoculation of Aspergillus Niger

2. Fermentation of Citric Acid
3. Biomass Removal
4. Liquid-liquid extraction
5. Crystallization
6. Drying
 STOICHIOMETRY EQUATIONS

• Given the yield of product with respect to substrate, YP/S =

0.77, the stoichiometry coefficients is solved.
 MATERIAL BALANCE
Ci Co Ni No Fi Fo
(gL-1) ( gL-1) ( molh-1) ( molh-1) (kgh-1) (kgh-1)
Sucrose 20.0 2.157 128.5 13.78 43.95 4.71
Ammonia 0.5 0.0745 64.31 9.58 1.23 0.16
Biomass 0 3.670 0 322.046 0 8.020
Product 0 13.740 0 156.36 0 30.02
Water 0 3.570 0 433.36 0 7.80
Oxygen 3 281.25 2 947.44 105 94.32
Carbon dioxide 0 108.09 0 4.76

Nitrogen 12 343.75 12 343.75 345.63 345.63

Σ Fi Σ Fo
= 501.45 = 501.422
 ENERGY BALANCE
Hi ( Jmol-1) Ho( Jmol-1)
Sucrose 1073.55 1789.25
Ammonia 240.27 401.61
Biomass 0 63.4655
Product 0 1415
Water 0 304.82
Oxygen 88.42 197.3918
Carbon dioxide 0 764.36
Ei = Σ Nik∆Hik= 443,531.06 J/hr Ei = Σ Nok∆Hok= 166,708.454 J/hr
Q = EOUT – EIN + rΔHbr = 166 708.454 - 443 531.06 + - 153 552.6(0.0015)= -277 052.934
Mass flow rate of cooling water :
Q = mCp (T2 – T1)
m = 13256kg/hr
 BIOREACTOR

• Catalyst
– A small quantities of iron
and limited amount of
H=10.06m
zinc
– Copper
• By Product
– Biomass
D = 5.03m
– Gluconic acid
Advantages
1. Flexible and adaptable – Oxalic acid
2. Wide range of mixing intensity
3. Ability to handle high viscosity
media
• Typical Batch Growth Curve A Graph of Substrate, Biomass and
Product over Dilution Rate

Substrate, Biomass and Product

20

concentration (g/l)
15

S(g/l)
X(g/l)
10
P (g/l)

Dilution Rate (h-1)

 HEAT TRANSFER

• Heat can be transferred • Glass wool which act as a

through cooling jacket of fermenter.
– Convection

– Conduction

– Radiation
• Factors influencing Heat
Transfer • q = 632.94 W
– Temperature diffence
– Fluid flow rate
– Nature of conducting materials
– Surface area and length
 MASS TRANSFER

• Fick’s Law of diffusion: • Factors influencing

mass transfer
– Concentration gradient
– Temperature
• Wilke-Chang correlation:
– Phase
– Molecular distance
– Surface area
– length
 SEPARATION

• Rotary filter • Rotary filter

– To filter off
mycelium(biomass)
• Sieve tray column
– Liquid-liquid extraction
• Sieve Tray Column
– Alkyl amide as extractant
– Water as solvent in
stripping
 DESIGN OF SIEVE TRAY COLUMN
• Smin / F = (XA)F - (XA)M /(XA)M -
(XA)S = (0.3 – 0.22)/(0.22 – 0) =
0.36 DT = (4 AC/ π)1/2=0.4869 ft
• (S / F) actual = 1.5 Smin / F =
HETS =6.61 ft
(1.5)(0.36) = 0.54
• F= 495.81 kg/h Total height = (HETS) (No. of Stages)
= 19.83 ft= 6.04418 m
• S= (0.54) (495.81 kg/h) = 267.737
kg/h
• Use Material balance to solve R
and E
• F+S=E+R
 COMPUTER ENGINEERING

• An approach in generating material balance into

computer codes.
• Simple algorithm performed to check the material
balance at the stirred tank fermentor.
M-FILE
 FLOWCHART

• To simplify the
computer codes.
• As graphical
representation of a
series of sequential
steps of algorithm.
 ENVIRONMENTAL & SAFETY ISSUE

• Waste generation • Safety Precautions

– waste water – Production plant safety
– Waste gas – Personal safety
– Biomass – General safety for plant
• Discharge Limit process
– Waste water – General safety for
workers
– Carbon dioxide
 CONCLUSION

• Citric acid – major production by Aspergillus niger

• Demand in 2012 – 2.9 metric tonnes
• Flow rate = 501.45 kg/hr , Q = -277 053 kJ/s
• Separation by alkyl amide
• Bioreactor of 5.03 m width & 10.06 m height
• Heat transfer in fermenter , q = 632.94W
• Flux = 1.286 x 10-10 kgmol/s.m2
• Column height, H=6.04418m