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Abstract

Aspergillus niger is considered as the main horsepower for production of citric acid at industrial level. Citric acid is produced under submerged fermentation and the process yield depends on Aspergillus niger and process parameters. The current research work aimed to identify the most favorable operational parameters for producing the highest amount of citric acid using Aspergillus niger. This study used various operational parameters such as sucrose concentration, pH, temperature, and inoculum size to determine their impact on citric acid production. HPLC analysis revealed different optimal conditions for citric acid production. The optimal conditions found in study were a sucrose concentration of 12.0% (w/v), temperature of 30℃, pH 5.0, and an inoculum size of 5.0% (v/v), which led to the highest citric acid yield. At these optimal conditions, the resulting concentration was 59.0 g/l of citric acid, 24.0 g/l of biomass production, and 2.0 g/l of residual sugar. In addition, food-grade nature of Aspergillus niger was determined by detecting aflatoxin in production media using HPLC. Our results showed that there were no traces of aflatoxins in production media. These findings underline the importance of process optimization in maximizing citric acid yield, and efficiency with implications for bioprocess engineering and industrial applications. Aflatoxin analysis has proved that applications of citric acid are safe in these fields.

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