Citric acid is a weak organic acid that occurs naturally in various fruits and vegetables , especially in the citrus fruits. Since olden days till now, citric acid is produced by any one of the three methods – fermentation , synthesis and extraction from citrus fruits. Nearly 50% of the total citric acid produced worldwide is used as a flavouring agent in beverages ; it’s acidic pH allows it to be a good preservative as well as aiding in ripening processes when cheese is converted to mozzarella and also adjust pH in brewing industry ; it’s powder form is used as a sour alternative to many dry foods . Citric acid also acts as a dietary supplement - owing to it’s acidic pH because it creates a suitable environment for mineral and vitamin adsorption.Citric acid has immense medicinal values like it prevents kidney stones ; it’s antioxidant property helps to regenarates skin tissue , slow down the ageing process and also depigments stained skin ; it also reduces nausea and prevents tonsillitis.With so many beneficial aspects and uses of citric acid , it’s demand has and will increase over the years and so should it’s supply. In terms of production , the extraction method is uneconomical (only 7% of world production) and demand outweighs the supply of citrus fruits ; the synthetic process is expensive, , low yielding and hazardous. The fermentation method is by far the best adopted method for citric acid production (gives 90% of world production). The primary aim of this project is to produce citric acid from non citrus vegetable wastes like rotten fruits and vegetables found in municipal garbages and then to compare the yield with a standard citric acid in order to find out the viability of this technique in industrial scale. A comparison of the net yield of citric acid is done in between nine waste vegetables . 156.523 gm/l is found in Brinjal waste followed by potato and other vegetable wastes screening ,production strategies and downstream processing of citrate will be envisaged.
