Highlights
•Combination of shear stress with cavitation is used for chitin mechanical activation.
•Activation causes partial amorphization and increase in the surface area of chitin.
•Mechanoactivation (MА) causes an increase in the deacetylation degree of chitin.
•Adsorption capacity of MA-chitin towards dyes is 2–4 times higher than of raw chitin.
•The average adsorption rate on MA-chitin is 3–4 times higher than on raw chitin.
Abstract
In this work, we studied the structural, morphological and chemical transformations in α- chitin, caused by its
mechanical activation in the form of an aqueous suspension in the rotor-stator device for 5–30 s. Mechanically
activated chitin (MA-chitin) was characterized using optical and electron scanning microscopy, N2 adsorption/
desorption isotherms, X-ray diffraction and FTIR-spectroscopy. It was established that the specific surface area,
porosity and the deacetylation degree of chitin increase with increasing processing time, and the decrease in
crystallinity and reducing the packing density of macromolecular chains does not correlate with this indicator
due to the development of recrystallization. The efficiency of chitin activation was evaluated by studying its
ability to adsorb anionic and cationic dyes. It was found that the limiting adsorption capacity of MA-chitin was
on average 2–4 times higher, and the time to reach equilibrium was, on average, 3–4 times less compared to raw
chitin.
Graphical abstract
