Author(s)

Khalid Al-Shoaily, Mansoura Al-Amri, Fouzia Al-Rawahi, Muhammad Al-Sidrani, Amal Al-Ghafri

Food Processing Research Laboratory, Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries, Muscat, Oman.

The production of citric acid from dates of the date palm Phoenix dactilifera was studied using a full factorial design with two design variables; Aspergillus niger strain, and starter juice treatment. Analyses of data have shown that mould type and the interaction between Aspergillus niger strain + juice treatment had significant effect (P ≥ 0.05) on the final total acidity. It was also found that all design variables and the interaction between them had significant effect (P ≥ 0.05) on the final pH and Total Soluble Solids. The highest total acidity expressed as citric acid was achieved with a commercial strain of Aspergillus niger, and filtered and centrifuged date juice.

Dates; Citric; Aspergillus niger

Al-Shoaily, K. , Al-Amri, M. , Al-Rawahi, F. , Al-Sidrani, M. and Al-Ghafri, A. (2014) Multivariate Study and Analysis of the Production of Citric Acid from Dates by Surface Method. Journal of Agricultural Chemistry and Environment, 3, 20-25. doi: 10.4236/jacen.2014.32B004.