Revaluation of crustacean by-products, chemical applications, and academic computing packages. Part 3. Example of Educational Improvement and Innovation Projects: Obtaining chitin-chitosan

Abstract

This research continued with the evaluation of the most abundant byproducts of the fishing industry, the cephalothoraxes and exoskeletons of shrimp, where 20.7% of them is calculated as crude fiber (which includes the biopolymer chitin). This component was separated through unit operations developed in different laboratory-scale investigations seeking to give added value particularly to the chitin it contains. The main objective of this phase of the research was to make a theoretical technical-economic analysis of chitin and its deacetylated derivative, chitosan, which are always accompanied. The Aspen Plus® software, whose licenses were provided by the Department of Chemical Engineering of the Faculty of Chemistry of the UNAM, was used. During the processing of the shrimp exoskeletons and cephalothorax, a production of 129.58 kg/h chitin in solution with the MAC-1:4:1© solvent was obtained. The production considering a plant of 500 kg h^-1 of byproducts that enter during 360 d per year would be around 380,000 kg of chitin. The total capital investment of the equipment calculated with Aspen Plus® software is $10,895,540.00 USD (US dollars). The chitin obtained is useful for the production of biosponges for the production of biodegradable containers with a more environmentally friendly methodology.