New route of chitosan extraction from blue crabs and shrimp shells as flocculants on soybean solutes.

The chitosan extracted from blue crabs and shrimp shells using calcium oxide (deproteinization) followed by deacetylation which eliminated the demineralization step to reduce the chemical usage and environmental protection. The extracted chitosan examined the flocculation to soybean solutes. The optical density (OD), solid%, and purity% (carbohydrates/soluble solids) after flocculation were measured. The OD was significantly decreased from 0.76 to 0.16 with blue crabs and 0.06 with shrimp shells chitosan-acetate dosing (0.5 g/L). The removal of about 68 and 66% solids was achieved by the addition of 0.5 g/L chitosan-acetate. The purity% was reached about 80% with blue crabs, and 78% with shrimp shells chitosan-acetate. The results of this study verified that the calcium oxide treatment should remove protein and increase the chitin extraction yield on blue crab and shrimp shells. This new route of chitosan extraction should be a useful method for making flocculants in the soybean solutes.