An organic acid, p-cymene-2-sulphonic acid, is synthesised from citrus waste and demonstrated to be comparable to p-toluenesulphonic acid in examples of acid catalysis. Firstly the essential oil found in citrus waste is extracted by either steam distillation or microwave irradiation. Oxidising the limonene in the citrus oil to p-cymene followed by sulphonation gives p-cymene-2-sulphonic acid. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.