Characterizing Chitin from Dendrobranchiata and Caridea Decapod Crustaceans

Authors: Gbenebor OP, Omoera MJ, Faton S, Adeosun SO

DOI Info: N/A

ABSTRACT

Prawns and shrimps are marine crustaceans belonging to the decapoda family and are often distinguished in terms of their body structure and habitat. Both however, deliver nutritional values in similar amounts. In this study, the properties of a useful biopolymer – chitin chemically extracted from the exoskeletons of the two crustaceans were compared. Demineralization and deproteinization were carried out with the use of 2M HCl and NaOH respectively for complete chitin isolation. Morphology of both chitin particles appear as plate-like fibrils. The degree of acetylation (DA) of prawn chitin was 98.01% while that of shrimp was 98.03%. Activation energy Ea measured from thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was 117.1 and 116.3 kJ/mol for prawn and shrimp chitin respectively. Results from Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) showed that chitin from both sources contain similar functional groups which exist at similar wavenumbers. In addition, average hydrogen bond (EH) calculated from FTIR result was 4.09 kCal for prawn chitin while that for shrimp chitin was 4.07 kCal. X-Ray diffraction results showed that the two biopolymers display similar diffraction patterns. The crystallinity (Crl) of prawn and shrimp chitin were 71.3 and 70.5% respectively. The comparable properties of chitin observed from these two sources suggest that either can be used for a specific application.

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