PROJECT TITLE : PRODUCTION OF SODIUM CITRATE BY PALM OIL BASED FERMENTATION OF YAROWIA LIPOLYTICA AND ONE STEP MEMBRANCE ELECTRODIALYSIS PROCESS.

BACKGROUND:

Sodium citrate is a fine chemical and food ingredient in high demand because of its application in ecologically compatible detergent and as ingredient in beverage, foods and cosmetic formulation. Sodium citrate can also be easily converted to citric acid, a very important acidulant in the food and beverage industries. The current consumption by the food beverage industry alone is in the region of RM25 million annually. Development of application in the RM270 million per year detergent industry will translate to huge demand for the product.

Sodium citrate has been produced via citric acid which was produced through a very delicate starch based fermentation process and a multistep chemical extraction. The chemical extraction process involve the production of environmentally unfriendly waste product such as calcium sulphate (gypsum) which is contaminated with toxic heavy metal.

The project is to develop an indeginous fermentor system for the production of sodium citrate. Malaysia is not a major producer of starch but we produce a lot of palm oil. We intend to develop a competitive if not better process for the production of sodium citrate from palm oil using a lipolytic yeast which has been shown to be promising in the laboratory. Successful commercialisation of this process will be another value added application for our palm oil industry.

The project also to develop a cheaper extraction of sodium citrate using the new downstream process of membrane electrodialysis which can produce purified sodium citrate in a single step process. This process involve selective electrodialysis of the citrate ion through an ion selective membrane which does not involve the release of harmful waste. This process has been proven to work on other organic acid such as lactic acid.

In short the project will develop a new, cheaper and environmentally friendly process for the production of sodium citrate and acid using palm oil as raw material.

 

 

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT :

1. To develop a fermentation process and the fermentor system or the production of sodium citrate using the yeast strain Yarowia lipolytica with palm oil as the raw material.

2. To develop a single step membrane electrodialysis sodium citrate separation/purification process which will significantly reduce the production cost of sodium citrate.

Ojectives Achivement

1. A local Aspergillus strains was successfully isolated which has demonstrated enhanced ability to produce sodium citrate during fermentation of sago starch. Citric acid yield of 52% was repeatedly achived and in a number of trials as hgh as 76% was reached. An elaborate protocol was discoverd which will consistantly induce the high yield of citric acid. We belive the yield obtained is competitive to the yield obtained in commercial citric acid plants.
2. The technique for the one step separation and purification of sodium citrate was developed and a mathematical model was successfully developed to simulate the process. Further refinement and optimization is however required especially using actual fermentation broth.

Benefit of the Project

The project aimed at developing a commercially competive process for the production of sodium citrate and citric acid from local raw material. It is envisioned that the project will proceed to pilot plant scale and later to development of a full scale plant for the production of sodium citrate and citric acid.

The potential beneficiaries to the suceess of this project are:

• The local plantation industry as it create more demand for the palm oil or starch.
• New business opportunity for selected industrialist.
• The local beverage and detergent industries that widely use sodium citrate and citric acid as they will
  have a cheaper alternative raw material.

Project Status

- Completed