Chitin nanofibers (ChNFs) are of interest for barrier materials but are often extracted by high pressure homogenization (HPH) with high energy utilization. We studied the influence of deacetylation (DA) and pressure on HPH of shrimp chitin and the resulting solution cast films. Deacetylation to 72% DA resulted in improved ChNF suspension and film light transmission, strain at break, and tensile strength compared to chitin with DA of 89%. The oxygen permeability (OP) of the films was not affected by the modification and remained at low values of 1.9–2.4 cm³ μm/m²/day/kPa. We also show that deacetylation enables HPH intensity to be reduced during extraction of ChNFs from crab shell chitin (63% lower pressure and 73% reduction in number of passes), while achieving a low OP. Deacetylation pretreatment reduces HPH process intensity required to achieve oxygen barrier properties in ChNF films.

几丁质纳米纤维 (ChNFs) 是阻隔材料的重要组成部分，但通常通过高压均质化 (HPH) 提取，能量利用率高。我们研究了脱乙酰化 (DA) 和压力对虾几丁质和所得溶液流延膜的 HPH 的影响。与 DA 为 89% 的几丁质相比，脱乙酰至 72% DA 导致 ChNF 悬浮和薄膜透光率、断裂应变和拉伸强度得到改善。薄膜的透氧性 (OP) 不受改性影响，保持在 1.9–2.4 cm ³  μm/m ^{2 的}低值/天/千帕。我们还表明，在从蟹壳几丁质中提取 ChNF 期间，脱乙酰化能够降低 HPH 强度（降低 63% 的压力和减少 73% 的通过次数），同时实现低 OP。脱乙酰预处理降低了在 ChNF 薄膜中实现氧气阻隔性能所需的 HPH 工艺强度。