Chitin Extraction and Synthesis of Chitin-Based Polymer Films from Philippine Blue Swimming Crab (Portunus pelagicus) Shells

Chitin has been extracted from Philippine blue swimming crab. The extracted chitin was subjected to thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis The degree of acetylation of the extracted chitin, derived from the X-ray diffraction intensity values of chitin characteristic peaks, revealed that the extracted chitin is purer than the commercially acquired high purity chitin. The extracted chitin was used to form polymer films at different formation conditions. Polymer films were also formed from commercially acquired chitin for comparison. It was shown that films prepared from the extracted chitin at different conditions have greater ultimate tensile strengths as compared to the commercially-available plastic film. Morphologies of the material surface and the fracture surface were investigated using the scanning electron microscope to identify stress concentration sites that contributed to the weakening of material under tensile loading.