Selection of the most suitable crustacean exoskeleton waste from fish processing industry to isolate chitosan

Shell waste produced by the sea food industry is one of the most significant problems contributing for environmental and health hazards. The most frequent method employed for disposal of these waste is burning which is environmentally costly due to low burning capacity of shells. In such a scenario, conversion of shrimp shell waste to chitosan, a commercially valuable product with a myriad of uses, could serve as an effective mode of shell remediation. Chitosan was obtained from shellfish waste by deproteination, demineralization, discoloration and deacetylation processes. It was characterized using Fourier Transformed Infra-Red (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The physico-chemical parameters such as moisture content, ash content, solubility, N-content, water binding capacity (WBC), fat binding capacity (FBC) and degree of deacetylation (DD) were analysed to compare the extracted six chitosan samples from Penaeus monodon , Portunus pelagicus , Portunus sanguinolentus , Scylla serrata , Panulirus homarus and Panulirus versicolor. The ranges for percentage yield, moisture content, ash content, N-content, percentage solubility, and WBC were 14.53±0.47%-34.13±3.72%, 3.16±1.77%-7.52±1.11%, 0.65±0.23%-53.52±5.65%, 2.02±0.03% - 6.16±0.10%, 15.28±0.62% - 47.91±5.15%, and 262.94±20.88% - 600.61±58.11% respectively. FBC varied approximately from 250% to 650% in coconut oil, sunflower oil and soybean oil. Among the six chitosan samples, P. monodon was the most suitable crustacean exoskeleton waste from fish processing industry to isolate chitosan due to the fact that in the processing of shrimps for human consumption, 40 - 50 % of the total mass is discarded as waste and high quality of chitosan extracted. Therefore, there is a high possibility of extracting good quality chitosan using exoskeleton waste of Penaeus monodon .