Physical Properties of Chitin and Chitosan

Next to cellulose, chitin is the second most prevalent organic amino polysaccharide in the world. It is deacetylated to produce chitosan. Researchers and industry scientists are looking at chitosan as a resource that is underutilized and as a novel functional material with great promise in many industries. The biopolymers chitosan and chitin have been produced using a variety of techniques over the years. The preparation methods and study of the physical-chemical characteristics of these biopolymers are discussed in terms of the many types of crustaceans and methodologies for characterizing them. These characteristics affect biopolymer functioning differently, contingent on the kind 96of crustacean and the process of preparation. This chapter’s goal is to provide a summary of the physical properties of chitosan.