The invention relates to a method for preparing
chitin and
chitosan by
coupling shrimp and crab shells through a hydrothermal / two-step enzymic method. The method comprises the following steps: removing impurities from
shrimp and crab shells, and crushing the
shrimp and crab shells; adding
organic acid for decalcification treatment, placing filter residues into a hydrothermal reactor, and feeding a reaction medium for
hydrothermal reaction; then rapidly relieving the pressure in the reactor, collecting a hydro-
thermal treatment product, carrying out
solid-liquid separation, and adding
protease into a
solid material to carry out enzymolysis deproteinization treatment; separating the deproteinized product to obtain
solid residues,
drying the solid residues to obtain
chitin, and adding
chitin deacetylase into the chitin for
enzyme treatment to prepare
chitosan; and finally, treating the
organic acid decalcification solution and the
protein enzymatic
hydrolysate to obtain organic
calcium and
protein peptide. According to the method, the decalcified shrimp and crab shells are modified through a hydrothermal method, the compact structure of the shrimp and crab shells is broken, the
accessibility of subsequent
protease and deacetylase is promoted, the enzymolysis efficiency is improved, poly-generation of
organic acid calcium,
protein peptide, chitin and
chitosan is achieved, the production process is rapid, stable and free of
pollution, and large-scale industrial application is easy to achieve.