Extraction and Physicochemical Properties Assessment of Chitin and Chitosan from Fish Scales
Manish Kumar, Richa Agrawal, Nidhi Pareek
Abstract
Abstract Chitin and chitosan (CHS) are extensively explored due to their remarkable biomedical applications. In the present study, chitin has been extracted from fish scales employing chemical process and further converted to the more valuable CHS. The obtained chitin and CHS are analyzed for their physicochemical properties. FTIR spectra verify the pattern of β‐chitin. The thermal analysis advocates the effectiveness of the process to obtain considerable yields of stable chitin and CHS. Approximately 0.26 g of CHS is obtained using 1 g of fish scales. Hence, fish scales can be explored as a potential source for production of chitin and CHS that could further be exploited for biomedical or agricultural applications.