Date syrup as an economical source of carbohydrates and immobilized Aspergillus niger J4, which was entrapped in calcium alginate pellets, were employed for enhancing the production of citric acid. Maximum production was achieved by pre-treating date syrup with 1.5% tricalcium phosphate to remove heavy metals. The production of citric acid using a pretreated medium was 38.87% higher than an untreated one that consumed sugar. The appropriate presence of nitrogen, phosphate and magnesium appeared to be important in order for citric acid to accumulate. The production of citric acid and the consumed sugar was higher when using 0.1% ammonium nitrate as the best source of nitrogen. The production of citric acid increased significantly when 0.1 g/l of KH2PO4 was added to the medium of date syrup. The addition of magnesium sulfate at the rate of 0.20 g/l had a stimulating effect on the production of citric acid. Maximum production of citric acid was obtained when calcium chloride was absent. One of the most important benefits of immobilized cells is their ability and stability to produce citric acid under a repeated batch culture. Over four repeated batches, the production of citric acid production was maintained for 24 days when each cycle continued for 144 h. The results obtained in the repeated batch cultivation using date syrup confirmed that date syrup could be used as a medium for the industrial production of citric acid.
Keywords: Aspergillus niger; Citric acid; Date syrup; Immobilization; Optimization.