Citric acid application

Citric acid is an important organic acid, which is colorless crystal, odorless, has a strong acid taste, and is easily soluble in water. It can exist in the form of hydrate-free or monohydrate: when citric acid is crystallized from hot water, it forms hydrate-free; when it is crystallized in cold water, it forms monohydrate. When heated to 78 ° C, the monohydrate will decompose to produce hydrate-free.

Natural citric acid is widely distributed in nature, especially in citrus fruits, which contain a lot of citric acid. The artificially synthesized citric acid is produced by fermentation of sugar-containing substances such as sugar, molasses, starch and grapes.

Citric acid is the largest organic acid, widely used in food, medicine, daily chemical and other industries as a multivalent chelating agent in food and medicine, and is also an intermediate in chemical processes. In the market of all organic acids, the market share of citric acid is more than 70%. So far, there is no acid agent that can replace citric acid.

Because citric acid has a mild and refreshing sour taste, it is widely used in the manufacture of various drinks, soda, wine, candy, snacks, biscuits, canned fruit juice, dairy products and other foods. Citric acid monohydrate is mainly used as an acidic flavoring agent for cool drinks, fruit juice, jam, fruit sugar and canned food, and also as an antioxidant for edible oil. It can improve the sensory properties of food, enhance appetite and promote the digestion and absorption of calcium and phosphorus in the body. Anhydrous citric acid is widely used in solid drinks.

Another main use of citric acid is deep processing. Common products include sodium citrate, ammonium citrate, calcium citrate, iron citrate, ferric ammonium citrate, etc., which can also be used as food additives.