The focus of this study was to compare the yield and characteristics of chitosan produced from different sequences of treatment for deproteination, demineralization and deacetylation. In Process 1, deproteination occurred in the first step followed by demineralization and deacetylation. While Process 2 was started with demineralization step and followed by deproteination and deacetylation. The results show that the percentage yield of chitosan was slightly higher when Process 2 was adopted with 22.22 %. However, the process produced chitosan with lower degree of deacetylation and solubility with high ash content, which were 76.47 %, 37.79 % and 2.67 %, respectively. While, when Process 1 was carried out, the degree of deacetylation of chitosan, solubility and ash content were improved to 91.26 %, 100 % and 0.38 %, respectively, with lower yield of 19.01 %. Therefore, this study suggests the extraction process should be performed by carrying out deproteination step before demineralization and deacetylation (Process 1) to produce a good quality of chitosan.

Background: Disposal of shrimp shell waste is gradually increasing throughout the years due to the constant growing of cultured shrimp production at the local area which in turn increases the bio-waste of shrimp shell. Shrimp shell waste contains valuable components such as protein and chitin. Chitin can be found at the outer surface of shrimp shell, while chitosan can be derived from chitin. Chitosan is a valuable natural polymer as it holds major potentials for industrial applications. However, the poor quality of chitosan has restricted its potential in applications and this is due to the difficulties in maintaining its degree of deacetylation, solubility, and ash content. Hence, several factors such as the temperature for deacetylation treatment, concentration of alkaline solution, ratio of chitin to alkaline solution, and few other factors are important to produce a good quality of chitosan. Keywords: deacetylation treatment, chitosan, shrimp shell waste, degree of deacetylation, solubility