Farmed Jumbo Shrimp Molts: An Ionic Liquid Strategy to Increase Chitin Yield per Animal while Controlling Molecular Weight

In pursuit of bioplastics which require a controlled biopolymer molecular weight, consistency, and supply, we have examined the chitin in the molts of farm raised Hybrid (H1) Pacific whiteleg shrimp (<i>Litopenaeus vannamei</i>) by collecting the molts during the shrimp growth cycle, sorting by shrimp average body weight (ABW), and extracting the chitin from the molts using the ionic liquid (IL) 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([C₂mim][OAc]). The amount of available chitin in the molts increases with the age/size of the molting shrimp, 19% in juveniles to 22% in adults. As expected from the biology of molting, the chitin in the final shell peeled from the adult shrimp contained the most chitin (29%). It is neither easier nor harder to extract the chitin from molts or peels, and the extracted chitin was equivalent in purity and degree of acetylation with comparable extraction efficiency (67% for molts, 63% for peels). In addition, the weight average molecular weight (<i>