Omojasola, P.FOkun, H.A.Oladoye, C.O.Kayode, R.M.O.Ahmed El-Imam, Amina2023-05-092023-05-092014-01-01Omojasola, P. F., Okun, H. A., Oladoye, C. O., Kayode, R. M. O. and Ahmed El-Imam, Amina. (2014): Citric Acid Production by Aspergillus niger and Trichoderma longibrachiatum using Ananas comosus Waste and Saccharum officunarum Bagasse. Nigerian Journal of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. 29(2): 117-127.https://uilspace.unilorin.edu.ng/handle/20.500.12484/9911Trichoderma longibrachiatum and Aspergillus niger were used to ferment two agro-based wastes; Pineapple peel (PP) and sugarcane bagasse (SB) as substrates for citric acid production. The wastes were ground, used to as carbon source in mineral salts media. Submerged fermentation was conducted at (29±10C) for five days and citric acid production and residual glucose were evaluated. pH, substrate concentration and inocula size were varied to determine their effect on citric acid production. 0.62 and 0.61 g L-1 of citric acid were produced from PP; while 0.08 and 0.24 g L-1 were produced from SB by T. longibrachiatum and A. niger respectively on Day 5 of fermentation. Maximum citric acid yield by A. niger was 0.61 g L-1 at pH 3; 0.92 g L-1 at 25% substrate concentration and 0.70 g L-1 at 0.5% inocula size on PP and 0.24 g L-1, 0.5 g L-1 and 0.52 g L-1 respectively on SB. Maximum yield with T. longibrachiatum was 0.6 g L-1 at pH 3; 0.62 g L-1 at 15% substrate concentration and 1.26 mg mL-1 at 0.5% inocula size on PP and 0.24 g L-1, 0.50 g L-1 and 0.52 g L-1 at pH 3.0, 25% substrate concentration and 1.5% inocula size respectively on SB. Under optimized conditions, T. longibrachiatum yielded 0.46 g L-1 citric acid which was significantly higher (P<0.05) than 0.41mg mL-1 produced by A. niger on PP. No significant difference (P<0.05) in the yield by both organisms on SB. Both wastes were found to be suitable substrates for commercial citric acid production.encitric acid, fermentation, bagasse, Aspergillus niger, Trichoderma longibrachiatumArticle