The possibility of producing chitin from the large quantity of rock‐lobster waste which is available in South Africa has been investigated. A study of the distribution of chitin in the rock lobster has shown that over 80% of the total chitin present is concentrated in the tail shell, dorsal body shell and legs. Tail shell has been found to be the most suitable starting‐material for chitin production, and the details of a satisfactory procedure, involving successive extractions with sodium hydroxide solution and hydrochloric acid, have been worked out. Alkali and acid liquors are recycled for further use. A high‐quality chitin product containing 92–96% chitin on a dry basis and less than 2% ash has been obtained by this method.
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Blumberg et al. (1951) studied this question.
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