Chitosan from shrimp residues with a saturated solution of calcium chloride in methanol and water

Abstract

Calcium chloride, methanol, and water in stoichiometric amounts were used for the extraction of chitosan from shrimp residues (Farfantepenaeus aztecus). Chitosan was characterized by FT-IR, TGA, XRD, SEM, elemental analysis, and 13C-NMR. The yield of chitosan with medium molecular mass was 65.90% (mass of extracted chitosan/mass of shrimp residues when the extraction was assisted with stirring at 60 °C for 20 min and ultrasound at 60 °C for 30 min. The extracted chitosan had a % DD of 64.06 and 65.87% (13C-NMR and FT-IR, respectively), thermal decomposition stage at 375 °C, porous on its surface, and calcite as the main mineral found. The experimental results revealed that the saturated solution of calcium chloride in methanol and water could be an alternative for the extraction of mineralized chitosan from shrimp residues with thermal stability and porosity.