Chitin/chitosan extraction from shrimp shell waste by a completely biotechnological process.

Two lactic bacteria were used in sequential co-cultures to demineralize (DM) and deproteinize (DP) shrimp shells (SS) to obtain chitin. During the first 24 h, Lactobacillus delbrueckii performed the DM in a minimal medium containing 100 g/L SS and 50 g/L glucose. Then, three different conditions were assayed to complete DM and perform the DP stage: 1) Bifidobacterium lactis was added with 35 g/L of glucose (Ld-G â†’ Bl-G); 2) only B. lactis was added (Ld-G â†’ Bl); and 3) a 35 g/L pulse of glucose was added, and at 48 h, B. lactis was inoculated (Ld-G â†’ G â†’ Bl). The highest DM (98.63 %) and DP (88 %) were obtained using a glucose pulse in the DM step and controlling the pH value above 6.0 in the DP step. Finally, a deacetylases cocktail produced by Aspergillus niger catalyzed the deacetylation of the resulting chitin. The chitosan samples had a deacetylation degree higher than 78 % and a solubility of 25 % in 1.0 N acetic acid. The deacetylation yield was 74 % after a mild chemical treatment, with a molecular weight of 71.31 KDa. This work reports an entirely biological process to get chitin and chitosan from SS with high yields.

Scaling-up and ionic liquid-based extraction of pectinases from Aspergillus flavipes cultures.

The viability of the scaling-up of pectinases production by Aspergillus flavipes at 5L-bioreactor scale has been demonstrated by keeping constant the power input, and a drastic increase in the endo- and exopectinolytic enzyme production was recorded (7- and 40-fold, respectively). The main process variables were modelled by means of logistic and Gompertz equations. In order to overcome the limitations of the conventional downstream strategies, a novel extraction strategy was proposed on the basis of the adequate salting-out potential of two biocompatible cholinium-based ionic liquids (N1112OHCl and N1112OHH2PO4) in aqueous solutions of Tergitol, reaching more than 90% of extraction.