Current World Environment

Chitin and Chitosan obtained from the crustaceans are having more biological value such as physiological compatibility, non-toxicity, bio digestibility, adsorption and chelating capacity. These biological values of chitosan depend on the quality parameters which are directly related to the source of the raw material. In this study, three commercially available crustacean shell waste such as shrimp, crab and squilla were used for the extraction of chitin and chitosan. The chemical treatment of demineralization, deproteinization and deacetylation were used for the production of chitosan. The viscosity quality parameter of the shrimp chitosan (5300cPs) was better than the crab and squilla chitosan. It is due the high solubility (97.65%) of the shrimp chitosan in 1% acetic acid. The degree of deacetylation of the shrimp chitosan (81.24%) directly relates the solubility of the chitosan. The chitosan with these quality parameters considered to be the excellent biological value. The yield of shrimp chitosan (15.4%) was also more when compare to crab and squilla chitosan.  These result showed that utilisation of shrimp shell waste for the production of chitin and chitosan will give more economical and biological value along with reduction of environmental pollution.