Effect of mass ratio of chitosan:sodium tripolyphosphate on chitosan suspension prepared by beads milling process

Abstract

This study has been investigated the mass ratio effect of chitosan and sodium tripolyphosphate in the ionic gelation method to produce fine chitosan suspension. In addition, the introduced of Lab-scale beads milling using 0.08 to 0.12 mm yttrium stabilized zirconia and applied the food-grade surfactant to obtain well-dispersed particles. The suspension was characterized by particle size analyzer, FT-IR spectroscopy, and SEM. The results show that the increase in mass ratio Cs/TPP could be gradually decreasing of size based on mean size distribution. After beads milling proses and addition of tween 80 as the surfactant, the morphology of Cs/TPP can breakdown of large particles into downsizing agglomerated particles with the solid surface. It was found that the beads milling process can be applied to prepare fine Cs/TPP suspension by proper adjustment of surfactant.