Enhanced Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Chitosan by Surfactant Addition

Less attention has been paid for the effects of surfactant on the hydrolysis of chitosan. This paper presents the influence of the surfactant Tween 80 addition on the chitosan hydrolysis catalyzed by cellulase enzyme. The hydrolyzed chitosan was characterized by measuring its reducing sugar content, its chemistry by Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), its formation of aldehyde groups by ultraviolet - visible spectra (UV-Vis), and its crystallinity degree by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results showed that Tween-80 could increase the hydrolysis rate and decrease the crystallinity of chitosan. The formation of reducing sugar increased by increasing reaction time up to 24 hours and then leveled off. A more significant effect of surfactant was observed when the hydrolysis was performed at a low surfactant concentration and a low substrate concentration. IR spectra showed that both raw and hydrolyzed chitosan have similar chemical structure.