Citric acid exists in greater than trace amounts in a variety of fruits and vegetables, most notably citrus fruits. Lemons and limes have particularly high concentrations of the acid; it can constitute as much as 8% of the dry weight of these fruits (about 47 g/L in the juices).
monohydrate citric acid:
C6H8O7* 1 H2O
210.14 g/mol (monohydrate)
anhydrous citric acid:
6H8O7
192.124 g/mol (anhydrous)
At room temperature, citric acid is a white crystalline powder. It can exist either in an anhydrous (water-free) form or as a monohydrate. The anhydrous form crystallizes from hot water, where as the monohydrate forms when citric acid is crystallized from cold water. The monohydrate can be converted to the anhydrous form by heating above 78 °C. Citric acid also dissolves in absolute (anhydrous) ethanol (76 parts of citric acid per 100 parts of ethanol) at 15 degrees Celsius.
Citric acid has been used as an additive to soft drinks, beer, and seltzer, and occurs naturally in many juices.
In 2007, world wide annual production stands at approximately 1,700,000 MT. More than 50% of this volume is being produced in China. More than 50% is being used as acidulent in beverages and some 20% in other food applications. 20% is being used for detergent applications and 10% for other non-food related applications like cosmetics, pharma and in the chemical industry.
Food additive
As a food additive, citric acid is used as a flavoring and preservative in food and beverages, especially soft drinks. It is denoted by E number E330. Citrate salts of various metals are used to deliver those minerals in a biologically available form in many dietary supplements. The buffering properties of citrates are used to control pH in household cleaners and pharmaceuticals. In the United States the purity requirements for citric acid as a food additive are defined by the Food Chemical Codex (FCC), which is published by the United States Pharmacopoeia (USP). Can be used for cherry packing. The market name is color guard.
Water softening
Citric acid's ability to chelate metals makes it useful in soaps and laundry detergents. By chelating the metals in hard water, it lets these cleaners produce foam and work better without need for water softening. In a similar manner, citric acid is used to regenerate the ion exchange materials used in water softeners by stripping off the accumulated metal ions as citrate complexes.The saturation point for citric acid and water is 59%