Comparison of the physicochemical, rheological, and morphologic properties of chitosan from four insects.

The present work aimed to compare the physicochemical, rheological, and morphologic properties of chitosan extracted from cicada slough, silkworm chrysalis, mealworm, grasshopper and shrimp shells. The physicochemical properties including solubility, fat binding capacity, water binding capacity, ash, viscosity average molecular weight and moisture content of them were determined. The characterization results showed that insect chitosan was quite different from shrimp shell chitosan including thermal stability, rheological characteristics and surface morphology.