What is Citric Acid ?

Citric acid is divided into citric acid monohydrate and citric acid anhydrous, which are mainly used as acidity regulators and food additives.

Citric acid monohydrate

Citric acid monohydrate is an organic compound with a molecular formula of C6H10O8. Citric acid monohydrate is a colorless crystal or white crystalline powder with a molecular weight of 210.139.

Citric acid monohydrate is mainly used in food and beverage industry as acidulant, flavoring agent, preservative and preservative. It is also used as antioxidant, plasticizer, detergent in chemical industry, cosmetic industry and washing industry.

Citric acid monohydrate is mostly packaged in 25 kg bags and 1000 kg bags in trays, and should be stored in dark, airtight, ventilated, low room temperature, dry and cool conditions.

Anhydrous citric acid

Citric acid, also known as citric acid, has a molecular formula of C6H8O7. It is an important organic acid. It has a colorless crystal appearance, is odorless, has a strong sour taste, is easily soluble in water, and has a molecular weight of 192.13. Anhydrous citric acid is the acidity Conditioners and food additives.

Natural citric acid is widely distributed in nature. Natural citric acid exists in the bones, muscles and blood of plants such as lemons, citrus, pineapples and other fruits and animals. Synthetic citric acid is obtained by fermenting sugar-containing substances such as sugar, molasses, starch, and grapes.

Use of citric acid

1. Food industry

Mainly used as sour agent, solubilizer, buffer, antioxidant, deodorant, flavor enhancer, gelling agent, toner, etc.

In terms of food additives, it is mainly used in carbonated beverages, fruit juice beverages, lactic acid beverages and other refreshing beverages and pickled products.

(1) Adding citric acid to canned fruit can maintain or improve the flavor of the fruit, increase the acidity of some fruits with lower acidity when they are canned, weaken the heat resistance of microorganisms and inhibit their growth, and prevent canned fruits with lower acidity. Bacterial swelling and destruction often occurs.

(2) Adding citric acid to the candy as a sour agent is easy to coordinate with the fruity taste.

(3) The use of citric acid in gel food jams and jelly can effectively reduce the negative charge of pectin, so that the intermolecular hydrogen bonds of pectin can be combined to gel.

(4) When processing canned vegetables, some vegetables show an alkaline reaction. Using citric acid as a pH adjuster can not only play a seasoning role, but also maintain its quality.

2. Metal cleaning

Citric acid is an organic acid produced by microbial fermentation and is widely used in detergent production. The corrosion inhibition performance of citric acid in detergents is also relatively prominent. Pickling is an important part of chemical cleaning. Compared with inorganic acids, the acidity of citric acid is relatively weak, so it is not suitable for all equipment. The corrosiveness produced is also relatively small, the safety and reliability of citric acid cleaning is relatively strong, and the waste liquid is relatively easy to handle, which will not cause harm to the human body. It can be used to clean pipes, compound surfactants to clean gas water heaters, clean water dispensers, and make citric acid cleaners.

3. Fine chemical industry

Citric acid is a kind of fruit acid. Its main function is to speed up keratin renewal. It is often used in lotions, creams, shampoos, whitening products, anti-aging products, and acne products.

In chemical technology, it can be used as a reagent for chemical analysis, as an experimental reagent, a chromatographic analysis reagent and a biochemical reagent.

Citric acid can be used as a formaldehyde-free dyeing and finishing agent to effectively inhibit the yellowing of fabrics.

 4. Sterilization and coagulation process

The combined action of citric acid and 80°C temperature has a good effect on killing bacterial spores, and can effectively kill bacterial spores polluted in the pipeline of the hemodialysis machine. Citrate ions and calcium ions can form a soluble complex that is difficult to dissociate, thus reducing the concentration of calcium ions in the blood and hindering blood coagulation.

 5. Animal breeding

Citric acid is formed by carboxylation of acetyl-CoA and oxaloacetate in the body’s tricarboxylic acid cycle, and participates in the metabolism of sugar, fat and protein in the body. Adding citric acid to compound feed can disinfect, prevent mildew, and prevent salmonella and other infection of animal feed. The intake of citric acid by animals can reduce the proliferation of pathogens and inhibit the production of toxic metabolites, and improve animal stress.

(1) Increase feed intake and promote the digestion and absorption of nutrients

Adding citric acid to the diet can improve the palatability of the diet and enhance the appetite of animals, thereby increasing the animal’s feed intake, reducing the pH of the diet and promoting the digestion of nutrients.

(2) Promote the health of intestinal flora

Citric acid reduces the pH in the gastrointestinal tract, and provides good growth conditions for probiotics such as lactic acid bacteria in the intestinal tract, thereby maintaining the normal balance of microbial flora in the digestive tract of livestock and poultry.

(3) Enhance the body’s ability to resist stress and immunity

Citric acid can make immune active cells have a higher density and be in a better immune state, which can inhibit the reproduction of intestinal pathogens and prevent the occurrence of infectious diseases.

(4) as antifungal agent and antioxidant

Citric acid is a natural preservative. Since citric acid can reduce the pH of the feed, the proliferation of harmful microorganisms and the production of toxins are inhibited, and it has an obvious anti-fungal effect. As a synergist of antioxidants, the mixed use of citric acid and antioxidants can improve the antioxidant effect, prevent or delay the oxidation of feed, improve the stability of compound feed and prolong the storage period.

Hebei Jinchangsheng Chemical Technology Co., Ltd. has many years of industry experience, focusing on various chemical products, escorting you with strength and technology, we produce good citric acid with heart, just to give you a more satisfactory use effect! Product quality has won the industry’s best Approved citric acid quality.