Production and isolation of chitosan by submerged and solid‐state fermentation from Lentinus edodes

A method for the laboratory‐scale production and isolation of chitosan (polyglucosamine) by liquid and solidstate fermentation from Lentinus edodes was developed. The yields of isolated chitosan were 120 mg/L of fermentation medium under liquid fermentation conditions and 6.18 g/kg of fermentation medium under solid‐state fermentation conditions. The latter method, which gives up to 50 times yields than other chitosan production methods from fungi, provides a new flexible and easily scaledup procedure for the production of low acetylation degree chitosan. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.