Extraction procedure and theoretical studies of chitin from black soldier fly

The black soldier fly (BSF) is an efficient converter of residual biomasses into valuable product molecules and biomolecules. It has attained significant consideration for sustainable resource recovery and waste management. Chitin was extracted, isolated and purified from BSF (Yield 15%) and was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Two fractions were obtained by sieving and the 100-mesh sample showed a crystallinity index of 9.32% which indicates that this BSF chitin sample falls into the amorphous category. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) evaluated chitin's thermal properties, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) examined its surface morphologies, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) performed elemental analysis. Moreover, density functional theory (DFT) calculations were conducted to investigate the molecular geometry and infrared vibrational properties of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine monomer and its conceptual dimeric and trimeric chitin sub-units.