Citric acid, a naturally occurring organic acid, is renowned for its versatility and wide range of applications. From food and beverage preservation to pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, its unique properties make it an essential ingredient across various industries.
Food & Beverages Industry
| Application | Function |
| Soft drinks and candies | Flavoring & Preservative agent |
| Liquor Products | As a Flavoring agent |
| Dietary supplements | Citrate salts of various metals are used to deliver those minerals in a biologically available form |
| Ice cream | As an emulsifying agent to keep fats from separating |
| Dairy products like cheese | As an emulsifying agent |
| Caramel | To prevent sucrose crystallization |
| Various recipes & cooking applications | As a replacement of vinegar or fresh lemon juice |
| Food products | Acidulant, viscosity agent & to balance the pH level of a normally basic dye |
| Carbonated beverages | As a flavouring agent as well as for effervescent to form CO2 |
| Frozen/ preserved food products | As a preservative to prevent its change in colour and flavour |
Pharmaceutical Industry
| Application | Function |
| Pharmaceutical Excipients & Capsules | As a flavouring agent & pH balance of the drug |
| Effervescent formulation-based powders & tablets | Citric acid is used with sodium bicarbonate |
| Creams, gels, and liquid medicines | As an acidulant |
| Brown heroin solubilizing agent | As a buffer to increase the solubility |
| Pharmaceutical Products | As a buffering solution to balance the pH |
| Blood acid regulator | Citric acid/potassium-sodium citrate can be used as a blood acid regulator. It helps to improve palatability |
Personal Care & Cosmetic Industry
| Application | Function |
| Chemical skin peels | As an active-ingredients |
| Bath salts, Bath bombs, and Cleaning of grease | Citric acid is used with sodium bicarbonate for cleaning activity |
| Shampoo, | As an active-ingredients |
| Products to wash out wax & colouring from the hairs | As an active-ingredients |
| Astringent, hair rinsers and hair setting fluids | As an active-ingredients |
| Facial tissues with antiviral properties | As one of the active ingredients |
Household & Cleaning Industry
| Application | Function |
| Household Cleaners | For the buffering properties of citrates which are used to control pH. |
| Soaps and laundry detergents | Can be used to treat water, which makes it useful in improving the effectiveness of soaps & detergents. |
| Bathroom & Kitchen cleaning solutions | As an active ingredient. |
| Glass Cleaning | A solution with a six percent concentration of citric acid will remove hard water stains from glass without scrubbing. |
Metal Industry
| Application | Function |
| Passivation of stainless steel | As an alternative to nitric acid in passivation of stainless steel. |
| Removing rust from steel | Act as alternative to nitric acid in removing rust of stainless steel. |
| Soldering flux | As an excellent soldering flux, either dry or as a concentrated solution in water |
| Metal painting Industry | As an acid to maintain pH |
Other Industries
| Application | Function |
| Fabric dyeing process | Odourless alternative to white vinegar for fabric dyeing with acid dyes. |
| Leather tanning process | As a chelating and sequestering agent |
| Plastic products & films | Triethyl citrate and tributyl citrate as a plasticizer |
