Valorization of Heavy Waste of Modern Intensive Shrimp Farming as a Potential Source for Chitin and Chitosan Production

Abstract

Sustainable development regarding safely reusing waste and the transformation of waste to valuable products is emerging as a strong trend. This study presents a potential source for chitin/chitosan products, such as moulted shrimp shells collected from solid waste in intensive aquaculture. The conditions for chitin extraction from these moulted shells were gentler compared to conventional peeling shrimp shells. The chemical structure, morphology, and purity of raw materials and prepared products were characterized by FTIR, XRD, NMR, SEM measurements. The prepared chitin and chitosan had a high purity with a very low ash (less than 0.5 wt%) and protein residues (less than 0.6 wt%), along with their medium viscosity and low crystallinity. This current study has provided a potential source and the proper extraction approach for large-scale chitin and chitosan production from moulted shrimp shells. Besides, these findings suggest a strategy for sustainable aquaculture by using solid wastes to produce value-added products. Graphic Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]