Development of Citric Acid

August 28, 2025

Citric acid is an important organic weak acid，at room temperature, citric acid is a colorless semi transparent crystal or white particle or white crystalline powder, odorless, extremely acidic in taste, and slightly deliquescent in humid air.

Citric acid can exist in the form of anhydrous or monohydrate: when Citric acid crystallizes from hot water, it forms anhydrous form; Crystallization in cold water produces monohydrate. When heated to 78 ℃, monohydrate will decompose into anhydrous form. At 15 degrees Celsius, Citric acid can also dissolve in anhydrous ethanol.

Natural Citric acid is widely distributed in nature. It exists in the bones, muscles, and blood of plants such as lemons, citrus fruits, pineapples, and animals.

Artificially synthesized Citric acid is made by fermenting sugar, molasses, starch, grapes, and other sugar containing substances.

Many types of fruits and vegetables, especially citrus fruits, contain a high amount of Citric acid, especially lemon and lime - they contain a large amount of citric acid, and after drying, the content can reach 8%.

Development of Citric Acid

Citric acid has a wide range of applications in various fields such as food, beverage, medicine, and chemical engineering. The following is a specific overview of the application and development of Citric acid:

Food industry:

As the "first edible sour taste agent", Citric acid is widely used in soda, fruit juice, canned fruits, etc., which can regulate flavor and improve taste. In addition, it can also serve as an enhancer of antioxidants, synergistically working with ascorbic acid and other substances to prevent fruit and vegetable raw materials from oxidizing and turning brown. At the same time, Citric acid can adjust the pH value of food, inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria, and extend the shelf life.

Pharmaceutical industry:

Citric acid can be used as a foaming agent, reacting with sodium carbonate to produce carbon dioxide, which rapidly dissolves the active ingredients in drugs.

In the field of beauty and makeup:

Citric acid is a kind of fruit acid, which can accelerate the skin cutin renewal and is one of the ingredients of lotion, cream, shampoo, etc. In the preparation process of wax, it can also serve as a metal ion chelating agent to enhance the anti-corrosion effect of wax.

Chemical cleaning field:

Citric acid can be used as an efficient cleaning agent to effectively remove oxides from metal surfaces. It can also be used as a detergent aid to improve detergent performance, precipitate metal ions, and remove stains from the laundry.

Other fields:

Adding Citric acid to animal feed can improve feed palatability, promote animal digestion and absorption of nutrients, and also serve as a mold inhibitor and antioxidant. In addition, Citric acid can be used as a concrete retarder to prevent cracking;

Used as a buffering agent and complexing agent in electroplating; Citric acid can also be used as a chelating agent for ethylene polymerization to improve rubber production, etc.

Looking ahead, the global Citric acid market still has broad development prospects. At the same time, the continuous emergence of new technologies and the expansion of application fields will also bring new development opportunities to the Citric acid market.