Recent trends in biological extraction of chitin from marine shell wastes: a review

Abstract

The natural biopolymer chitin and its deacetylated product chitosan are widely used in innumerable applications ranging from biomedicine, pharmaceuticals, food, agriculture and personal care products to environmental sector. The abundant and renewable marine processing wastes are commercially exploited for the extraction of chitin. However, the traditional chitin extraction processes employ harsh chemicals at elevated temperatures for a prolonged time which can harm its physico-chemical properties and are also held responsible for the deterioration of environmental health. In view of this, green extraction methods are increasingly gaining popularity due to their environmentally friendly nature. The bioextraction of chitin from crustacean shell wastes has been increasingly researched at the laboratory scale. However, the bioextraction of chitin is not currently exploited to its maximum potential on the commercial level. Bioextraction of chitin is emerging as a green, cleaner, eco-friendly and economical process. Specifically in the chitin extraction, microorganisms-mediated fermentation processes are highly desirable due to easy handling, simplicity, rapidity, controllability through optimization of process parameters, ambient temperature and negligible solvent consumption, thus reducing environmental impact and costs. Although, chitin production from crustacean shell waste through biological means is still at its early stage of development, it is undergoing rapid progress in recent years and showing a promising prospect. Driven by reduced energy, wastewater or solvent, advances in biological extraction of chitin along with valuable by-products will have high economic and environmental impact.

Marine Bioactive Compounds and Their Health Benefits: A Review

“…It is one of the most abundant biopolymers in nature (Xu and others 2013), and it exists in different marine sources including crustaceans where it is a part of the exoskeleton (Rinaudo 2006;Sharp 2013). Chitosan is formed by the alkaline deacetylation of chitin, and it is used in various applications (Giyose and others 2010;Kaur and Dhillon 2015). Some attractive impacts have also been related to this polymer, considered as a part of the nutritional fiber, decrease of lipid absorption, and hypocholesterolemic or antidiabetic impact, among others (Ibañez and others 2011).…”

Optimization of chitin and chitosan production from shrimp wastes and characterization

“…Of these shrimps, 2,057 tons are harvested from the Marmara Sea (Turkish Statistical Institute, ). As is widely known, about 20% of shellfish is edible and the rest is waste that contains valuable components such as chitin, protein, minerals, and pigments (Atar & Alçiçek, ; Kaur & Dhillon, ; Kurita, ). In Turkey, there are no data relating to the evaluation of these wastes.…”

“…Nowadays, the major source of industrial chitin is crustacean waste such as from shrimp, crabs, and lobsters. The shells mainly comprise chitin, protein, minerals, and pigments (Kaur & Dhillon, ; Kurita, ). Therefore, to obtain chitin, the removal of proteins, minerals, and pigments is necessary.…”

“…In these processes, acid is used for demineralization, while alkali is used for deproteinization, and decolorizing agents, such as chloroform, hydrogen peroxide, and acetone, are used for decolorization. The next step is to produce chitosan by deacetylation with alkali at a high temperature and high concentration to remove the acetyl groups from the chitin (Kaur & Dhillon, ; Sagheer, Sughayer, Muslim, & Elsabee, ).…”

Vibrio cholerae Colonization of Soft-Shelled Turtles

“…Previous results have shown that deletion of the gbpA gene of V. cholerae led to a significant decrease in colonization on the shells of crustaceans, such as crab, shrimp, and shellfish (28,29). Chitin is the main element of crustacean shells (52,53), and its ␤-1,4-linked N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) residues are receptors for GBP-mediated binding (54). Thus, GBP interacts with the chitinous exoskeleton and promotes the colonization ability of V. cholerae.…”