SYNTHESIZING CHITOSAN FROM DIFFERENT CHITIN SOURCES AND IT'S APPLICATIONS

Plastics have been a crucial component in our development but now we know the problems with its widespread use. Therefore, there’s a need for greener alternatives that can replace plastics. Chitosan is a sugar derived from chitin the second most abundant biopolymer on earth, it can be used to make bioplastics and many more applications. Our objective was to synthesize chitosan from 4 different sources of chitin viz. Crab shell, fungi, cockroaches & prawn shells and study their properties in different applications. Chitin is converted to chitosan by 3 standard steps viz. Deproteinization, demineralization and deacetylation in that order. These steps involve incubation of chitin with sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acids at different concentrations and temperatures. The presence of chitosan was confirmed with ninhydrin tests. The applications tested were Edible chitosan coating, Chitosan reinforced bioplastic, Antimicrobial activity, Chitosan-sodium alginate beads & Antioxidant activity. Chitosan showed promise in its antimicrobial, antioxidant and water treatment properties.