Microwave-Assisted Sustainable Extraction and Characterization of Chitosan from Hermetia Illucens

  • Zainal Mustakim Chemical Engineering Department, Engineering Faculty, Gadjah Mada University, Jl. Grafika No 2, Bulaksumur, Yogyakarta 55281, Indonesia
  • Agus Prasetya Chemical Engineering Department, Engineering Faculty, Gadjah Mada University, Jl. Grafika No 2, Bulaksumur, Yogyakarta 55281, Indonesia
  • Joko Wintoko Chemical Engineering Department, Engineering Faculty, Gadjah Mada University, Jl. Grafika No 2, Bulaksumur, Yogyakarta 55281, Indonesia
  • Fanny Sakinah Chemical Engineering Department, Engineering Faculty, Gadjah Mada University, Jl. Grafika No 2, Bulaksumur, Yogyakarta 55281, Indonesia
  • Chandra Purnomo Chemical Engineering Department, Engineering Faculty, Gadjah Mada University, Jl. Grafika No 2, Bulaksumur, Yogyakarta 55281, Indonesia
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22146/ajche.21666
Keywords: Chitosan, Extraction, Hermetia Illucens, Microwave, Waste

Abstract

Chitosan holds considerable industrial significance due to its versatile physicochemical and bioactive properties. With growing attention to sustainability and circular economy principles, recent research has increasingly explored alternative and renewable sources of chitosan, most notably the black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens), as a promising substitute for conventional crustacean-based materials. Chitosan was successfully synthesized for the first time through a rapid, efficient, and simplified approach involving microwave irradiation across all three fundamental extraction stages: demineralization, deproteinization, and deacetylation. A comparative study was carried out between this microwave-assisted method and traditional thermal processing. The structural and physicochemical characteristics of the resulting chitosan were thoroughly evaluated using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), and particle size analysis (PSA). The microwave-assisted process yielded chitosan with a degree of deacetylation (DD) of 76.01% in just 24 minutes, whereas the conventional heating method required up to 6 hours to achieve a comparable DD of 76.48%. This represents a remarkable reduction in processing time—approximately 1/15 of the conventional duration—highlighting the microwave-assisted technique as a significantly more energy-efficient, timesaving, and environmentally sustainable strategy for valorizing Hermetia illucens-derived biowaste.

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Published
2026-04-30
How to Cite
Mustakim, Z., Prasetya, A., Wintoko, J., Sakinah, F., & Purnomo, C. (2026). Microwave-Assisted Sustainable Extraction and Characterization of Chitosan from Hermetia Illucens. SEAN ournal of hemical ngineering, 26(1), 131-144. https://doi.org/10.22146/ajche.21666
Issue
Vol 26 No 1 (2026)
Section
Articles

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