The proximate analysis and spectral profile of chitin extracted from the shell of portunus pelagicus originated from cirebon, indonesia

Abstract

Indonesia has a great potential to be exploited for its abundant marine resources, e.g. the blue swimming crab (Portunus pelagicus). During 2018 in West Java, P. pelagicus is highly utilized (8.423,89 tons or 5.127% of the total production throughout Indonesia). However, the shell waste (approximately 40-60% of the total crab weight) is usually deserted and needs to be further exploited. In this work, we extracted chitin from P. pelagicus shells originated from Cirebon-West Java, Indonesia, using the natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES): a mixture of choline chloride and malic acid. The extraction was carried out twice using the same solvents. The chitin produced, by employing NADES, was proximate-analyzed and UV/IR spectrophotometric-characterized. The two times-extraction of chitin from P. pelagicus shells using NADES yielded chitin powder of 35.43% w/w. The proximate analysis indicates that our chitin meets the Indonesian National Standard requirements, and its infra-red spectrum confirms the β-chitin form. It could be concluded that chitin extracted from the wasted shell of P. pelagicus possesses a good quality, very low level of arsenic and lead, and therefore could be further developed as active pharmaceutical ingredients.