A quantitative and qualitative investigation of chitin and chitosan extracted from the Shell wastes of three crustacean species caught in Bandar Abbas coastal Shoreline

Abstract

Introduction: Chitin and chitosan obtained from crustaceans have higher biological values such as physiological compatibility, non-toxicity, and bio-digestibility. These biological values of chitosan depend on quality factors that are directly related to the source of the raw material. Matherials & Methods: In this research, the shell wastes of three crustacean species of banana shrimp, mud crab, and mantis shrimp were used to extract chitin and chitosan. To produce chitosan, chemical methods of demineralization, deproteinization, and deacetylation were used. Results: The results showed that there is a significant difference between the samples in terms of waste efficiency (p<0.05) and Mud crab has the highest amount of waste (55.67±0.18). The amount of extracted chitin also showed a significant difference between the samples (p<0.05) and banana shrimp had the best efficiency with 17.35±0.06%. Chitosan production was also measured with a significant difference between samples (p<0.05) and banana shrimp with a quantitative yield of 15.32 ± 0.06% and in terms of qualitative parameters solubility (97.07±0.23), degree of deacetylation (71.57±0.08) and viscosity (5300 ±31) showed the best performance among the samples. Conclusion: The results showed that the use of banana shrimp shell waste for the production of chitin and chitosan will have more economic and biological value along with reducing the environmental pollution.