Study on mechanism of chitosan degradation with hydrodynamic cavitation

Hydrodynamic cavitation is an effective method for chitosan degradation, of which the mechanism directly determines the molecular weight distribution of degradation products. In this study, based on the Monte Carlo simulation and experimental results, the mechanism of chitosan degradation with hydrodynamic cavitation and molecular weight distribution of products were analyzed. The results showed that the algorithm established in the simulation could effectively analyze degradation mechanism and the factors that influenced degradation mechanism and molecular weight distribution of products. The degradation with hydrodynamic cavitation was caused by chemical and mechanical effects, of which the former dominated the degradation process. The outlet and inlet angles and throat length of the cavitator had major and minor influences on the degradation pattern, respectively. The chemical effect led to random cuts resulting in wide distribution of the products, while the mechanical effect led to central cuts resulting in narrow distribution of the products. With more central cuts, the slide-shaped molecular weight distribution curve of degradation products was gradually transferred into a bell-shaped curve. These results provide instructions for researches on the molecular weight distribution of chitosan products degraded with hydrodynamic cavitation.