Glucosamine and method of making glucosamine from microbial biomass
AssigneeCargill, Incorporated
InventorsWeiyu Fan, John A. Bohlmann, James R. Trinkle, James Donald Steinke, Ki-Oh Hwang, Joseph P. Henning
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Abstract
Glucosamine suitable for human or animal consumption is disclosed. The glucosamine is derived from microbial biomass containing chitin. Suitable starting materials include substantially uniform microbial fungal sources, such as fungal sources derived from Aspergillus sp., Penicillium sp., Mucor sp. and combinations thereof. Methods of producing glucosamine by acid hydrolysis of fermented fungal biomass are also disclosed.
Claims13
A method of obtaining glucosamine from fungal biomass, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing the fungal biomass;
- (b) reacting the fungal biomass in an acidic solution with an acid concentration of greater than 5 percent at a reaction temperature greater than 80° C. for a reaction period of at least 4 hours to convert chitin in the fungal biomass to glucosamine;
- and
- (c) separating the glucosamine from the acidic solution.
A method of obtaining glucosamine from fungal biomass, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing fungal biomass;
- (b) pretreating the fungal biomass with an alkaline solution;
- (c) reacting the fungal biomass in an acidic solution with an acid concentration of greater than 5 percent at a reaction temperature greater than 80° C. for a reaction period of at least 4 hours to convert chitin in the fungal biomass to glucosamine;
- and
- (d) separating the glucosamine from the acidic solution.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.