Produção e caracterização de microesferas de quitosana obtidas a partir de carapaça de camarão

Abstract

Fishing is one of the economic activities that causes negative impacts to the environment, so the proper destination of waste is of the utmost importance. A concern of the fishing industry nowadays refers the appropriate destination for its residues, so that the aggressions to the environment are increasingly reduced. To the extent that the generation of shrimp and crabs residues is significant and that such residues are composed of chitin, there has been great interest in its reuse. The use of fish waste reduces the risk of environmental pollution and can contribute to the increase of the consumption of animal protein, besides providing raw material of low cost. Chitin, a natural fiber, precursor of chitosan, is the most abundant after cellulose, and its structure is similar to this vegetable fiber. Therefore, the present work aimed to produce and characterize chitosan microspheres obtained from the shrimp shell. The methodology consists of obtaining the chitosan through the deacetylation of chitin in basic medium, characterization of the chitosan obtained through the solids content, degree of deacetylation and average molar mass, with subsequent formulation and characterization of the microspheres obtained. The results presented were satisfactory as the degree of deacetylation equal to 76.21% showing a good chitin / chitosan conversion, obtaining a stable sphere of homogeneous granulometry around 1.7 mm and good biodegradable.