Recovery of glucosamine and optimization of chitin extraction with acid and alkali process from shells of sea mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis in Greece

Abstract

Mussel wastes include byproducts such as seed, barnacles fouling, broken shells, byssus threads, which are associated with serious environmental impacts on aquatic ecosystems. The objective of reducing wastes and to avoid environmental problems can be achieved by establishing alternative methods to valorize mussel wastes converting them into high value-added products. The present study aims to obtain by chemical methods the extraction of chitin and glucosamine from shells of Mytilus galloprovincialis. Chitin, which chemically is a linear polysaccharide of β (1→4) linked N-acetylglucosamine monomers, possesses multifunctional properties and is suitable for various applications mainly in pharmaceutical, biomedical food and packaging fields. Glucosamine (C6H13NO5) is an amino sugar (2-amino-2-deoxy-β-D-glucopyranose) and is a part of the structure of two polysaccharides, chitosan and chitin. Due to its high aqueous solubility and physical stability is used as a potential solid-dispersion carrier to improve the biopharmaceutical properties of drugs. The influence of temperature, solid/liquid ratio (g/ml), molarity of solutions and agitation on chitin production and acid hydrolysis of chitin was studied to achieve optimum output of chitin and glucosamine. Our results demonstrates that the production of glucosamine and chitin is greatly influenced by the experimental conditions. The best yield for glucosamine was obtained at a solid/liquid ratio of 1:15 at 60°C for 1 hour.