Bioprocessing of Shrimp Shell Waste into Chitin and Functional Ingredients with High Bioactive Activity

Shrimp shell waste represents an abundant marine biomass containing chitin, proteins, minerals, and carotenoids that can be valorized through integrated biorefinery processing. Shrimp shell waste was bioprocessed to obtain chitin and bioactive coproducts using colactic acid fermentation (Co-LAF) and alkaline protease post-treatment. Mature coconut water was used as the sole nutrient source during Co-LAF, achieving demineralization (DM) efficiency >96% and deproteination (DP) efficiency >60%. Enzymatic post-treatment further increased DM to >99% and DP to >98%. Scale-up in a stirred-tank bioreactor produced comparable DM and DP efficiencies with a chitin yield of 25.1 ± 0.04%. The extracted chitin exhibited higher crystallinity (80.3%) and degree of acetylation (∼100%) than chemically extracted chitin. Liquid fractions containing calcium, protein hydrolysates, and carotenoids were characterized for antioxidant-related properties and GC–MS metabolites, indicating their potential for food, feed, and biobased material applications.