PRODUCTION AND ISOLATION OF CHITOSAN BY SUBMERGED AND SOLID-STATE FERMENTATION FROM LENTINUS-EDODES

A method for the laboratory-scale production and isolation of chitosan (polyglucosamine) by liquid and solid-state fermentation from Lentinu s edodes was developed. The yields of isolated chitosan were 120 mg/L of fermentation medium under liquid fermentation conditions and 6.18 g /kg of fermentation medium under solid-state fermentation conditions. The latter method, which gives up to 50 times yields than other chitos an production methods from fungi, provides a new flexible and easily s caled-up procedure for the production of low acetylation degree chitos an. (C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.