Effect of glucose concentration and inoculation level on chitin extraction from shrimp waste using microbial fermentation

Chitin is one of the most abundant renewable polysaccharides in nature that is widely found in the shell of the crustacean, insect cuticle and cell walls of fungi. Due to the unique properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradation and noun toxicity is widely used in various industries. In this study, we used of Banana shrimp, Penaeus merguinsis wastes (particle size 8-10 mm) to extract chitin using microbial fermentation method by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Demineralization and deproteinization was carried out by incubating shrimp waste inoculated with bacteria at different concentration glucose (0%, 10%, 15% and 20% w/v) and inoculum (10%, 15% and 20% v/v) for 4 day in a shaking incubator (100 rpm) at 30°C. The results showed a direct correlation between the concentration of these parameters and deproteinization and demineralization rate. When studying the effect of these parameters, 20% glucose and 20% of the inoculum was determined as the optimum value, which leads to the production of chitin with a removal of minerals (76%) and protein (86%). Therefore, the microbial fermentation, as an ecofriendly and positive method, can be used to produce a high- quality chitin.