Abstract: Shrimp chitin and chitosan with improved characteristics were isolated from black tiger shrimp waste pretreated with M Salicylic acid for ten hours. The pretreated shrimp shells could be efficiently demineralized and deproteinized at ambient temperature using M HCl and M NaOH, respectively. The duration of the treatments was 8 hours, the ash and protein residues in the final chitosan were about and respectively; the viscosity was 4800 cps; the solubility was up to 98%. In comparison with treatment at ambient temperature (30oC) without pretreatment, the chemical consumption, the duration of the treatment, ash and protein residues was reduced to.
