Abstract:
Shellfish processing is vital for the extraction of crustacean meat in the seafood market. Their processing results in shellfish wastes containing high-value products like chitin. The common method for chitin recovery practised globally utilizes harsh chemicals like HCl and NaOH, for the demineralization and deproteination of the shellfish wastes, releasing harmful acidic and basic effluents as flow through. Recently, mathematical and computational tools are employed to monitor and regulate the concentration of chemical effluents being released from the chitin/chitosan industries. As an alternate measure to prevent the disposal of effluents, greener remediation measures have been preferred for the recovery of chitin. The current paper discusses the harmful effects of the wastes generated by seafood processing and chitin/chitosan industries by chemical methods and suggests a guideline on alternate green environmentally friendly methods like microbial fermentation, application of enzymes, Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents (NADES) etc. for the production of high-quality chitin and other chemical-free protein hydrolysates and their bioprospecting.
