YZU chemical engineering team develops vegetarian glucosamine

Professor Wu Ho-Shing (吳和生), Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and his team develop the glucosamine from the fungal Aspergillus wild strain. It is the first strain found in the world specifically for glucosamine production. It has reached the glucosamine standard for commercial production and obtained patents issued by Taiwan, China, and the United States. The technology will replace the current use of shrimp and crab shell as the traditional method of raw materials. The invention has transferred to the domestic biotechnology company, also won the "2012 Taipei International Invention and Technology Trade Show" invention competition silver medal.

Wu says that there are three kinds of methods for glucosamine production: chemical, enzyme decomposition, and microbial fermentation. The traditional chemical process is a strong acid (hydrochloric acid, nitric acid) degrades chitin and chitosan in shrimp and crab shells to glucosamine. High concentration of strong acid usually produces waste treatment and affects the environment. Although the use of the enzyme for producing chitosan reduces the volume of waste, the catalyst price is high and requires a longer reaction time to reach the same effect. It becomes an obstacle for commercialization. Moreover, shrimp and crab shells have heavy metal pollution problems, also are not suitable for the people with allergies, vegetarians and dietary restrictions for the religious reason. The glucosamine from the fungal Aspergillus wild strain follows the microbial method which usually uses agricultural raw materials such as corns and molasses and appropriate for those people.