Straightforward extraction and selective bioconversion of high purity chitin from Bombyx eri larva: Toward an integrated insect biorefinery

Chitins of different purity grades (45%, 89.7% and 93.3%) were efficiently extracted from Bombyx eri larva and fully physico-chemically characterized. Compared to commercially available and extracted alpha-chitin from shrimp shell, the collected data showed that insect chitins had similar characteristics in terms of crystallographic structures (alpha-chitin), thermal stability and degree of acetylation (> 87%). The major differences lay in the crystallinity indexes (66% vs 75% for shrimp chitin) and in the morphological structures. Furthermore, low ash contents were determined for the insect chitins (1.90% vs 21.73% for shrimp chitin), making this chitin extraction and purification easier, which is highly valuable for an industrial application. Indeed, after only one step (deproteinization), the obtained chitin from Bombyx eri showed higher purity grade than the one extracted from shrimp shells under the same conditions. Insect chitins were then subjected to room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) pretreatment prior to enzymatic degradation and presented a higher enzymatic digestibility compared to commercial one whatever their purity grade and would be thus a more relevant source for the selective production of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (899.2 mg/g of chitin-2 steps vs 760 mg/g of chitin com). Moreover, for the first time, the fermentescibility of chitin hydrolysates was demonstrated with Scheffersomyces stipitis used as ethanologenic microorganism.