Citric Acid was discovered by a Swedish Chemist, Carl Wilhelm Scheele, in 1784. Scheele was born in Stralsund, Pomerania [Germany] on December 9, 1742 and died on May 21, 1786 in Köping, Sweden. The isolation of citric acid was just one of the few substances that he discovered. Some of his other significant conquests were the identification of oxygen (rarely given credit over Priestley), arsenic acid (1775), molybic acid (1783), malic acid, oxalic acid, gallic acid, glycerine, chlorine oxide, barium oxide, hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen cyanide, and hydrogen fluoride. SCheele also published a book called Abhandlung von der Luft und dem Feuer (1777; Chemical Observations and Experiments on Air and Fire). He happened to have encountered and isolated this compound from an experiment involving lemon juice.
Where Can It Be Found? How Is It Obtained? What Is Its Natural Abundance?
Citric Acid is found in almost all plants and in many animal tissues and fluids. It is a key element in the physiological oxidation of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates to carbon dioxide and water.
It is obtained or manufactured commercially by fermentation of cane sugar or molasses in the presence of a fungus, Aspergillus niger. As well, it can be collected by extraction from lemon juice, lime juice, and pineapple canning residues. Although most people believe that its natural abundance is found in citris fruits, most of it is produced by refineries.
1997: 435 million pounds
Historical growth (1988-1997) has been approximately 5% per year. In the future, it has been projected to be a growth of 3.5% per year till 2002.
Price (1982-1997): The high was $0.86 per pound, the low has been $0.68 per pound. Currently, it is at $0.75 per pound.
The citric acid business is primarily controlled by three large producers who are back-integrated to raw materials. Citric Acid is not a heavilly developed resource, therefore there is no rush for this compound to be produced at an exhaustive pace. However, some of the older US capacity is scheduled to be closed down in the near future.
1998: 450 million pounds
2002: 535 million pounds
(Includes exports, which totaled 54 million pounds in 1996 and averaged 44 million pounds annually during 1992-1996; imports amounting to 80 million pounds in 1996 and averaging 88 million pounds during the five-year period are not included).
