Chitin is one of the most abundant biopolymers on earth and can be isolated from waste crustacean shells from the seafood industry. A pulping process was reported for waste shrimp shells that utilizes a protic ionic liquid (hydroxylammonium acetate) to produce a chitinous material with equal to higher purity and higher molecular weight than current industrial technologies. Here we present our efforts towards the use and scale-up of this ionic liquid pulping with lobster shells, characterization of the materials and by-products, and chemical modification of the resulting chitinous material for applications in environmental remediation.

Chitin materials from waste crustacean shells: Pulping, scale-up, and applications

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