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Black soldier fly allows to efficiently convert residual biomasses into a valuable source of biomolecules, such as proteins, lipids and chitin. In this study, a new method for obtaining amorphous chitin from the black soldier fly larvae was developed with a further deacetylation step. Amorphous chitin was obtained by direct extraction using concentrated phosphoric acid. The purity of the resulting chitin was confirmed by physicochemical methods (elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy, measurement of primary amines, amino acid analysis). Crystalline chitin and high molecular weight chitosan were obtained by the standard procedure including demineralisation, deproteinisation and deacetylation steps. This method allows to extract chitosan, suitable for a wide range of applications.

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Polysaccharide processing by means of low-temperature Electron Beam Plasma (EBP) is a promising alternative to the time-consuming and environmentally hazardous chemical hydrolysis in oligosaccharide production. The present paper considers mechanisms of the EBP-stimulated destruction of crab shell chitin, cellulose sulfate, and microcrystalline cellulose, as well as characterization of the produced oligosaccharides. The polysaccharide powders were treated in oxygen EBP for 1–20 min at 40 °C in a mixing reactor placed in the zone of the EBP generation. The chemical structure and molecular mass of the oligosaccharides were analyzed by size exclusion and the reversed phase chromatography, FTIR-spectroscopy, XRD-, and NMR-techniques. The EBP action on original polysaccharides reduces their crystallinity index and polymerization degree. Water-soluble products with lower molecular weight chitooligosaccharides (weight-average molecular mass, Mw = 1000–2000 Da and polydispersity index 2.2) and cellulose oligosaccharides with polymerization degrees 3–10 were obtained. The 1H-NMR analysis revealed 25–40% deacetylation of the EBP-treated chitin and FTIR-spectroscopy detected an increase of carbonyl- and carboxyl-groups in the oligosaccharides produced. Possible reactions of β-1,4-glycosidic bonds’ destruction due to active oxygen species and high-energy electrons are given.

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