Chitin and chitosan production from shrimp shells using ammonium-based ionic liquids

• Published in: International journal of biological macromolecules 2019-06, Vol.130, p.818-826
• Main Authors: Tolesa, Leta Deressa, Gupta, Bhupender S., Lee, Ming-Jer
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ammonium-based ILs; Chitin; Chitosan; Extraction; Shrimp shell
• ISSN: 0141-8130; 1879-0003
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2019.03.018

Ammonium-based ionic liquids (ILs): diisopropylethylammonium acetate ([DIPEA][Ac]), diisopropylethylammonium propanoate ([DIPEA][P]) and dimethylbutylammonium acetate ([DMBA][Ac]) are used for the extraction of chitin from shrimp shells. The extracted chitins were characterized by FT-IR, TGA, XRD, SEM and 1H NMR. The yield of chitin, with moderate molecular weights, can be as high as 13.4% (mass of extracted chitin/mass of shrimp shells) when the extraction was operated at 110 °C for 24 h. The extracted chitin can be further converted into chitosan and the product has 93% degree of deacetylation. The experimental results reveal that the ILs play a remarkable role in the extraction of chitin from shrimp shells with high selectivity. These ammonium-based ILs can be a promising green solvent to extract chitin from wasted shrimp shells and then converted into chitosan. [Display omitted] •Shrimp shells are renewable raw material for production of valuable chemicals.•Ammonium-based ILs: [DIPEA][Ac], [DIPEA][P], and [DMBA][Ac] have shown promising ability to extract chitin selectively.•The chitin extraction of 14% of the original biomass was found after shrimp shells treatment with ILs.•The synthesized chitin was converted to chitosan under alkaline condition.•The synthesized molecules were characterized by FT-IR, 1H NMR, TGA, XRD, and SEM.