A Study On Preparation And Properties Of Chitin And Its Derivatives

This paper provides a comprehensive survey of domestic and foreign applications of chitin and its derivatives such as chitin and chitosan, and of glucosamine salts such as glucosamine, glucosamine hydrochloride and glucosamine sulfate. So far, quite a few reports have been made on the preparations of these materials. However, there are still such preparation problems as the complexity of technological process, the huge consumption of raw materials, and the low output and low stability of products. In this experiment, attempts have been made to simplify and improve the technological process of chitin, chitosan and glucosamine hydrochloride, and to rationally recycle acid and alkaline solutions, so that not only the consumption of raw materials, but also the environmental pollution caused by waste acid and alkaline waste, is reduced. In addition, experiment has also been made to test the solubility of glucosamine hydrochloride in mono-solvent system (water, alcohol, acetone and isopropanol) and binary system (water-alcohol, water-acetone and water-isopropanol), which, as a result, makes up for documentary inadequacies, and establishes as well theoretical data basis for further study on the conversion of glucosamine hydrochloride into glucosamine sulfate. Experimental results show that qualities indexes of these products, prepared after the simplification and improvement of the technological process of the above materials, are much higher than, or at least the same with, those indexes of such products produced at home and abroad. In such particular technological conditions, high-output chitin, high-viscosity chitosan and high-yield glucosamine hydrochloride have been prepared.