Journal
GREEN CHEMISTRY LETTERS AND REVIEWS
Volume 9, Issue 1, Pages 1-11Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/17518253.2015.1119891
Keywords
Chitin; chitosan; lactic acid; green chemistry; demineralization
Funding
- Saint Mary's University
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Canada Research Chairs Program
- Canadian Foundation for Innovation
- Nova Scotia Research and Innovation Trust Fund
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Chitin and chitosan are potentially useful and environmentally friendly biopolymers with a wide range of value-added applications. Effective and green technologies for isolation of these materials are potentially important. Here, we report the use of lactic acid for the demineralization of green crab shells. Green crab shells and lactic acid, produced during cheese making, are two waste streams that could be tapped for large-scale chitin and chitosan processing. We have studied the effect of concentration and temperature on the demineralization of green crab shells. An unusual calcium lactate/lactic acid complex was also isolated and crystallographically characterized. The results have implications not only for the use of weak acids in the isolation of chitin and chitosan but also for the use of lactic acid as a solvent in green chemistry.
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