posted on 2016-08-09, 00:00authored byJ. L. Shamshina, P. S. Barber, G. Gurau, C. S. Griggs, R. D. Rogers
Ionic liquids (ILs),
such as hydroxylammonium acetate ([NH3OH][OAc]), can reactively
demineralize and remove proteins
from shrimp shells in an efficient one-pot pulping process, thus allowing
the isolation of native chitin with >80% purity and a high degree
of acetylation and crystallinity. Compared to a previously reported
IL extraction using 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate, [C2mim][OAc], these less expensive ILs can achieve comparable chitin
yields and purity, at up to ten times the biomass loading, although
potentially result in lower molecular weight (MW) chitin. Because
the IL is not recovered or recycled, the cost can additionally be
further reduced by the sequential addition of hydroxylamine and acetic
acid (or vice versa) to conduct the pulping process in situ. Though each methodology results in a comparable
yields and purity of chitin material, the varying production costs
and process safety issues are still unknown. This work presents a
step toward narrowing the choices for chitin isolation technologies
that can lead to an economically and environmentally sustainable process
replacing the current hazardous, energy consuming, and environmentally
unsafe process.