Microwave Irradiation-Assisted Chitosan Hydrolysis Using Cellulase Enzyme

Abstrak

The influence of microwave irradiation on the chitosan hydrolysis catalyzed by cellulase enzyme was studied. The hydrolyzed chitosan was characterized by measuring its viscosity and reducing sugar. Further, it was also characterized by Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The classical Michaelis-Menten kinetic parameters were measured by analyzing the amount of reducing sugars. The results were compared with the hydrolysis by using conventional shaker incubator. The hydrolysis reaction time needed to obtain similar reducing sugar yield was significantly lower for microwave irradiation than shaker incubator. On the other hand, the reduction rate of the relative viscosity was significantly higher for the hydrolysis of chitosan using shaker incubator. A significant difference in chemical structure was observed between hydrolysis using microwave irradiation and shaker incubator. Overall, the result showed that the hydrolysis behavior of chitosan using microwave irradiation is significantly different with using shaker incubator.