Simultaneous fermentation and hydrolysis to extract chitin from crayfish shell waste.

Chitin is the second-most abundant bioresource and widely used in the food, agricultural, textile, biomedical, and pharmaceutical industries. However, an efficient, environmentally friendly, and economically feasible process for chitin extraction from shellfish waste remains to be explored. This study aimed to extract chitin from crayfish shell waste powder (CSP) by removing Ca2+ and protein, using Bacillus coagulans LA204 and proteinase K. A simultaneous enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation process was conducted at 50 °C with 5% (w/v) CSP, 5% (w/v) glucose, 1000 U proteinase k g-1 CSP, and 10% inoculation of B. coagulans LA204 in a 5-L bioreactor under non-sterile conditions. After 48 h of fermentation, the deproteinization efficiency, demineralization efficiency, and chitin recovery reached 93%, 91%, and 94%, respectively. 1 mol additional glucose efficiently removed 0.91 mol calcium carbonate and 93% of the removed protein was hydrolyzed to acid-soluble protein. Simultaneous enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation was a new strategy and a competitive biological method for chitin extraction.