Surimi wash water treatment by chitosan-alginate complexes

SURIMI WASH WATER TREATMENT
BY CHITOSAN-ALGINATE COMPLEXES:
EFFECT OF MOLECULAR WEIGHT AND DEGREE OF DEACETYLATION
OF CHITOSAN AND NUTRITIONAL EVALUATION
OF SOLIDS RECOVERED BY THE TREATMENT
1. INTRODUCTION
Natural biopolymers such as polysaccharides and proteins are receiving
much attention in many fields due to their biocompatibility and biodegradability
(Henriksen and others, 1993; Ohkawa and others, 2000; Peter, 1995). One such
polysaccharide, chitosan, a deacetylated derivative of chitin, is the second most
abundant biopolymer in nature after cellulose. Chitin is an N-acetyl glucosamine
found in renewable sources such as the outer shell of crustaceans and insects and
the cell walls of some fungi and plants. Chemically or enzymatically deacetylated
chitin (Wang and others, 2001; Savant, 2001; Nakayama and others, 1999), withno
more than 40-45% residual acetyl groups, is defined as chitosan (Ii' ma and others,
2001). The deacetylated polymeric unit in chitosan contains one amine and two
hydroxyl groups per glucose unit.
Chitosan is a versatile polymer with applications in waste treatment (Peter,
1995; Savant and Torres, 2000; Torres and others, 1999; Mireles and others, 1992),
food processing (Ahmed and Pyle, 1999; Torres and others, 1999; Shahidi and
others, 1999), chemical industries (Chen, 1999), medical and pharmaceutical