Abstract

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CITRIC ACID PRODUCTION FROM PUNICA GRANATUM AND ITS PEEL WITH EFFECT OF ALCOHOL AS A STIMULANT

M. Sashi Prabha* and G. Subba rangaiah

Abstract

Citric acid is one of the most important bulk produced organic acids,it is ubiquitous in nature. Citric acid is a 2-hydroxy propane,2,3- tricarboxylic acid (CH2COOH.COH.COOH.CH2COOH) which was first isolated from lemon juice and was crystallized by Scheele in 1784. In the present study more focus was made on the economical production of citric acid from Punica granatum and its peel, which was in turn compared with the rate of citric acid produced from sucrose as a substrate. Aspergillus niger MTCC 281 is the choice of the organism for the present study. Pomogranate (Punica granatum) is a seasonal fruit and its peel will be dumped indiscriminately after using the edible portion, and this activity may lead to environmental pollution. This environmental waste was considered for the present study as a substrate for citric acid production. The rate of production from fruit and its peel was in turn compared with the citric acid rate of production from sucrose. In the second part of the work three different alcohols were used (methanol, ethanol and butanol) to check the inhibitory or the stimulatory action of alcohol on citric acid production, and was compared. All the three different alcohols were used at five different concentrations.

Keywords: Citric acid, Punica granatum, stimulants, substrate, Alcohols.