Biological Method of Chitin Extraction from Shrimp Waste an Eco-friendly low Cost Technology and its Advanced Application
Abstract
Biological method of chitin extraction from crustacean shells is an advanced and new technique which
involves extraction of long chain carbohydrate polymer chitin by using lactic acid bacteria and it produces a
good quality end product. This eco-friendly and low cost technique requires 24-48 hours old Lactobacillus
inoculums for fermentation. The 10% culture inoculums is added with crustacean shells along with same
quantity of carbon sources for 180 hrs incubation followed by filtering and the obtained solid cake i.e. chitin
is dried in hot air oven. The additional advantage of this technique is production of liquid fraction which is
rich in protein and can be used for human and animal feed. However, this method is still limited in
laboratory condition as because demineralization and deproteinization have not yet reached up to the desired
yields as compared to chemical method.