Effect of Surfactant HLB Value on Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Chitosan

Nonionic surfactants are reported as being able to enhance enzyme stability and increase the conversion of enzymatic reactions. Surfactant-assisted enzymatic hydrolysis conversion is affected by surfactant HLB values. This work investigated the influence of nonionic surfactants with different HLB values on chitosan enzymatic hydrolysis using cellulase enzyme by measuring the reducing sugars formation, viscosity, and molecular weight of hydrolyzed chitosan. A characterization analysis of hydrolyzed products was also carried out. A higher HLB value exhibits a better enzymatic chitosan hydrolysis performance, shown by the decrease in a solution's viscosity and the increase in reducing sugar formation. Increasing the surfactant concentration will also increase the hydrolysis rate. Nonionic surfactants can protect cellulase enzyme from the denaturation of temperature and stirring influence. The higher the HLB value, the lower the molecular weight of the hydrolyzed chitosan. The result of UV-Vis demonstrated aldehyde groups formation during hydrolysis. The SEM analysis showed that the chitosan, hydrolyzed using different HLB values of surfactants, had different surface morphologies. However, it did not change the chemical structure of the hydrolysis product seen by the FTIR analysis. The XRD patterns showed that the relative crystallinity of raw chitosan decreased when hydrolyzed with surfactants.