Biochemical Products

**281**

**Chapter 15**

**Abstract**

**1. Introduction**

growth of 5% per year [2, 3].

Production Pathways of Acetic

in the Food Industry

*Gunjan Deshmukh and Haresh Manyar*

Acid and Its Versatile Applications

Acetic acid is a commodity chemical with the global demand of approximately

The bridge between chemistry and the day-to-day human life is always growing wider and stronger, and acetic acid is one of the perfect examples. Acetic acid is a clear liquid with a pungent odour, sharp taste, melting point of 16.73°C and boils at 117.9°C. Acetic acid, traditionally known as 'vinegar' is widely used as a food preservative, first discovered (c. 5000 BC) when unattended grape juice turned into wine. A famous physician Hippocrates II (c. 420 BC) used acetic acid to clean the wounds [1]. With direct and indirect applications of acetic acid, it has diversified into several chemical sectors such as food, pharma, chemical, textile, polymer, medicinal, cosmetics etc. Since then, acetic acid is proven to be a multi-application chemical building block resulting in ever-increasing demand. The production of acetic acid is expected to reach 18 million ton with an average

The overall routes for production and the applications of acetic acid are shown

in **Figure 1**. Currently, the manufacturing demand is fulfilled via two main

15 million tons per year with several applications in the chemical and food industry. The production of acetic acid can be widely categorized into chemical and fermentative routes, with the chemical route being the predominant one in the current industrial practice. In this chapter, we have reviewed the most recent developments in acetic acid production and applications over past two decades, including process intensification and catalysis by keeping the main emphasis on process sustainability. Acetic acid is used in several industrial sectors such as chemical, pharmaceutical, textile, polymer and paints, food and beverages. Furthermore, acetic acid has several applications in food industry and is traditionally known as vinegar. In addition, it is an acidulant, which is used to give a characteristic flavor profile to food. It can be used for microbial decontamination of meat and as a mild descaling agent in the food industry. More recently, acetic acid is reported to be used as an antimicrobial edible food coating agent. The diversified food culture has a significant demand in the development of such

kind of innovation and acetic acid can be an efficient solution.

**Keywords:** acetic acid production, acetification, acidulant
