The Production of Chitosan from Crab Shell (Portunus sp.) at Room Temperature

Abstract

Crab shell (Portunus sp.) can be used as a raw material for chitosan which obtained by hydrolyzing chitin by using strong alkali and high temperature. The use of high temperature during the process, producing chitosan without any thermal stage can be a possible solution to reduce hazard. The study aims to produce chitosan from crab shells using non thermal method. Chitosan was made through these stages: deproteination, demineralization and deacetylation, proses pembuatan kitosan dilakukan sebanyak tiga kali ulangan pada waktu yang berbeda dengan metode yang sama dan terukur.The yielded chitosan then characterized. The results showed that the chitosan has yellowish white color, in flakes form and odorless with moisture, ash, nitrogen, lipid, viscosity, solubility, and degree of deacetylation 11.25–12.93%, 1.62– 1.75%, 5.12–5.45%, lipid 0.25–0.49%, 37.50–38.33 cPs, 99.55–99.57% and 57.64% respectively. In conclusion chitosan can be made with nonthermal method met the commercial standards of chitosan except for the low deacetylation. Processing chitosan with nonthermal methode can be applied at small crab miniplant, thus the crab shells has more economical value.