Biotransformation of Chitinous Waste into Value-Added Products

Abstract

Chitinous wastes are the key source of coastal area pollution and it can be managed by converting into value-added products like chitosan, chitooligosaccharides, and glucosamine. The conversion of chitinous wastes into the more beneficial products can be carried out through microbial enzymes which not only provide products with improved properties but also give advantage over the chemical conversion in terms of environment protection. The microbial-derived biotransformations of chitin into their derivatives have numerous applications in food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, medical, wastewater treatment, and agriculture industries. Microbial enzymes like chitinase, chitosanase, chitin deacetylase, and N-acetyl glucosaminidases have specific affinity towards the polymer chitin and they can be proved vital for the industrial-scale production of chitin derivatives. Other non-specific enzymes like cellulases, lysozymes, lipases, etc. can play critical role in enhancing the production level of the chitin derived bioactive compounds. The present chapter covers the different aspects like structure, mode of action, properties and application of the various chitinolytic specific enzymes as well as their bioactive products.