Production of Citric Acid from Corncobs with Its Biological Evaluation

Abstract

Corncobs could serve as a substrate for citric acid production using solid state fermentation technique. The culture optimization concerning substrate concentration, culture duration, pH, temperature and substrate hydrolysis was carried out for maximum productivity of citric acid. Under the optimized conditions, 48.4 g of citric acid was produced from 1 kg dry corncobs. Biological evaluation was carried out for citric acid such as melanin synthesis inhibitory, anti-allergy, anti-bacterial, and hyaluronic acid production activities. The results showed that citric acid has potent melanin inhibitory activity, good inhibition for β-hexosaminidase release and potent stimulatory effect for the production of hyaluronic acid. These activities (melanin synthesis inhibitory, anti-allergy and hyaluronic acid productive activities) of citric acid have been reported for the first time.