Manufacture of Granulated Chitosan

Conditions for dry-wet spinning of spherical chitosan granules 0.5–2.0 mm in diameter into a two-layer spinning bath consisting of immiscible liquids are proposed, where an organic liquid, decane in particular, is the upper layer of the bath while a solution of ammonium hydroxide is the lower layer. The possibility of obtaining chitosan microgranules from 2 to 30 µm in diameter by emulsification of a solution of chitosan in decane or a solution of an anion-active surfactant — sodium dodecyl sulfate — is demonstrated. The effect of the molecular weight and concentration of the solutions on the granule-forming power of chitosan is established. A 6% solution of chitosan with a molecular weight of 200 kD is recommended for further studies.__________Translated from Khimicheskie Volokna, No. 5, pp. 26–29, January–February, 2005.