Objective
The aim of the project is to develop a methodology to isolate chemically defined chitin and chitosan from crab shells using enzymes instead of the conventional acid/base technology, which leads to a mixture of molecules of different structure and molecular weight. This material can not be used for biomedical applications.
Crab shells, a waste product of the marine food industry, mainly consists of chitin, proteins and calcium salts. So far this material is most often dumped, the valuable complex chitin polymers are only seldom isolated using strong acids and bases.
As a basis for the application of chitin and chitosan in biomedicine food technology, biotechnology and environmental technology chemically defined molecules have to be efficiently produced.
The conventional acid/base technology results in an inhomogenous mixture of molecules which do not fulfil the requirements of applications in the above mentioned fields.
Our strategy is to remove the bound protein from the chitin matrix with the help of hydolytic enzymes (proteases). This quantitative removal under mild temperature, pressure and pH conditions is the key step which leads after decalcification, centrifugation and washings to a pure defined chitin product. This chitin is then again enzymatically (chitin deacetylase) converted to chitosan to achieve molecules with defined molecular structure and weight.
Programme(s)
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
DEM - Demonstration contractsCoordinator
23562 Lübeck
Germany