Isolation and characterization of chitin nanowhiskers from fermented tiger prawn waste

Abstract

The objective of this study is to produce chitin nanowhiskers (CNW) from bacterial fermentation of tiger prawn waste. For this purpose, chitin was first extracted from tiger prawn waste using bacterial fermentation process followed by isolation of CNW using acid hydrolysis process. The isolated CNW from fermented tiger prawn waste (FCNW) were investigated using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), x-ray diffractometer (X-RD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). FTIR spectra analysis indicates that the acid hydrolysis of chitin did not altered the chemical structure of isolated FCNW. TEM analysis revealed that the produced FCNW displayed a nanoscale structure with an average length and width of 100 and 10 nm. AFM images of FCNW indicate the presence of spindle-like features. The X-RD analysis revealed that the acid hydrolysis process enhanced the crystallinity of FCNW from 20 to 46 % compared to chitin due to the removal of the amorphous region. The TGA results revealed that the FCNW is more thermally stable than fermented chitin (FC) and CNW from commercial chitin. The relatively good thermal stability of FCNW shows its suitability in a range of applications such as reinforcing fillers in green nanocomposites.