A comparison of chitosan properties after extraction from shrimp shells by diluted and concentrated acids

Chitosan and chitin are mainly extracted from shells of fish such as lobsters, crabs or shrimps. Originally, the raw material and the two compounds are identical. This study aims to show the acid concentration effect on chitosan extraction from shrimp shells between concentrated and diluted acid; on surface morphology, thermal resistance, structural, elemental composition, optical and opto-electronic properties. It also aims to reduce the production time and increase the quantity. We focused mainly on comparing between Physico-chemical properties of chitosans extracted by diluted (1M) and concentrated (20%) Chloric acids, and sometimes we compare by other concentrated acids like nitric acid (70%) and sulphuric acid (98%). We performed the product's characterization by various tools such as: X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis, UV-Visible spectroscopy, Fourier Transformed Infra-Red (FTIR), Raman Spectroscopy, Thermogravimetry and Derivative Thermogravimetry (TG/DTG), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analysis. The elemental analysis (XRF and EDX). The results showed that all chitosan samples we gained are good about 80% degree of deacetylation, and pure mostly composed by carbon between (15,02% - 45.55%), nitrogen (4,17% - 12.28%) and oxygen (42.16% and 81.25%), with appearance of essential peaks for chitosan in Raman analysis: 470 cm^-1 → ν(C-C(=O)-C), 1000 cm^-1 → ν(C-H), 1800 cm^-1 → δ(C=CCOOR), δ(C=O), 2630 cm^-1 → δ(CH) rings, 3250 cm^-1 → ν(NH₂). All our chitosan particles are ultrafine nanoscale between 8 and 34 nm.