Investigation of chitin recovery from shrimp waste by yeast fermentation

Abstract

This study investigated the possibility of using yeast fermentation to transform shrimp waste to chitin for further application. The white leg shrimp head was incubated with three yeast strains Yarrowia lipolytica, Candida tropicalis and Pichia kudriavzevii, in comparison with bacteria Bacillus subtilis and commercial protease Alcalase. The efficacy of fermentation was evaluated through deproteinization and demineralization levels after 2 days. A deproteinization of 80.9% was obtained when incubation with Y. lipolytica which was significantly higher than 76.9% and 65.6% obtained with Alcalase hydrolysis and B. subtilis incubation respectively. Besides, C. tropicalis and P. kudriavzevii expressed a similar low level on deproteinization (31.3-31.7%.) All three yeast showed a good demineralization in range 38.2-49.4% on shrimp head while B. subtilis could demineralize only 16.0%. This primary research shows a potential application of yeast fermentation in chitin recovery from shrimp waste.