Result and discussion
60
2- Moisture content
The impact of moisture content on the quality of chitosan produced is a crucial factor that has
been investigated in this study, The moisture content of both chitin and chitosan was quantified
and is visually depicted in Figure 2.
According to (AHING and WID.,2016), chitin of good quality should have a moisture content
of less than 5% after deproteination and demineralization processes. This is because a higher
moisture content may interfere with the concentration of concentrated NaOH used in the
deacetylation process, which in turn can reduce the removal rate of acetyl group from chitin
and affect the degree of deacetylation of the final product. Similarly, for chitosan, it is
recommended that the moisture content should be less than 10%, as compared to commercial
chitosan (HOSNEY et al., 2022).
The results presented in the Figure indicate that the average moisture content of the obtained
chitin was 9.32%, which is higher than the recommended level. The average percentage of
moisture content in chitosan was found to be 14.62%, which is similar to the findings of
(HADDAB and KORTBi.,2020), other studies are shown in the table below:
Table 16:Moisture content findings
Moisture content %
References
9.34%
(PUVVADA et al.,2012)
10.5%
(KEFFIL,2020)
14.61%
(HADDAB and KORTBI.,2020)
14.62%
PRESENT STUDY 2023
These variations in moisture content may be attributed to the different drying methods used. In
the current study, oven drying was used for time-saving purposes, but previous studies have
suggested that drying samples under sunlight may further reduce the moisture content in chitin
and chitosan samples, leading to a lower percentage of moisture content. However, the drying
time is much longer (HOSNEY et al., 2022).
chitin ; 9,32%
chitosan ;
14,62%
0,00%
2,00%
4,00%
6,00%
8,00%
10,00%
12,00%
14,00%
16,00%
chitin
chitosan
moisture
content
%
Figure 49:Moisture content of chitin and chitosan