Looking for ideal Chitosan Supplier for your R&D Project or Product? Here’s What You Need to Know.

Choosing the right chitosan supplier or chitosan manufacturer can mean the difference between a successful or failed R&D project or commercial product.  But there are measures you can take to increase your chances of choosing the right supplier. This article provides you with what you need to know to identify the right one. 

Introduction – What is Chitosan?

Chitosan (CAS No. 9012 76 4) is a natural polycationic linear polysaccharide obtained from chitin. It is the second most abundant biopolymer second only to cellulose.  Cellulose is in all trees and plants whereas chitosan is made from crustacean shells (i.e., shrimp, crab, lobster, crayfish, prawns, etc.) and cell walls of fungi such as mushrooms. 

These are a few examples of the applications in which you can incorporate chitosan:

• Drug delivery and transport facilitators

• Tissue engineering and regeneration Medical devices and implants

• Wound care

• Haemostat

• Vaccines

• 3D printing

• Etc.

The biocompatibility, biodegradability, and ease of modification of chitosan makes it an ideal choice for various applications. It is used for R&D and commercial projects for pharmaceutical, biomedical, food, agricultural, and industrial applications.It can be used to obtain numerous forms and functionalities such as, chitosan nanoparticles, films, hydrogels, scaffolds, etc. Its physicochemical properties provide many benefits to your formulation, such as of non-toxic, biocompatible, biodegradable, antimicrobial (antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral) to name a few.  But when developing a formulation or a product using chitosan, it is important to find a suitable chitosan supplier, especially when your objective is to translate your R&D into a commercial product.  To do so, these are the things you need to know from your chitosan supplier or manufacturer.

Selecting the Best Chitosan

An ideal chitosan company should help you select the most suitable chitosan for your R&D project.  This selection is dependent on the application and the chitosan functionalities you are targeting for your formulation. Key parameters of chitosan to consider are its:

§  Degree of Deacetylation (DDA%)

§  Molecular Weight (kDa) / Viscosity (cps)

Ask to see detailed specifications of their chitosans by providing Specification Data Sheets (SDS) and or Certificate of Analysis (CoAs).

For projects looking to establish proof of concept, it is advisable to test two chitosan products. Ask the chitosan supplier for two chitosan products: both with a high degree of deacetylation (DDA%), e.g. (90%-98%). But make sure they have different molecular weights (kDa) or Viscosities (cps). Testing both chitosans can let you know which one provides you with better results in terms of their characteristics and functionalities. These results can then inform whether you should try a chitosan with a different molecular weight or viscosity.  The results of your experiment may also inform that you should select a chitosan with a different DDA%.

High-Quality Chitosan?

It is important that the chitosan supplier can ensure their chitosans are of high and consistent quality. This means that the chitosan product in question has the same specifications from batch to batch and it contains allowable levels of impurities. 

Measures of high-quality chitosan include its:

1)     Purity

Chitosan purity is determined by its DDA%. The higher chitosan’s DDA%, the higher its purity and quality.  This level is considered to be a DDA% of ≥95% to 99%.

2)     Impurities

Chitosans must not have high levels of impurities (such as proteins, microbes, heavy metals, etc.). Regulatory agencies (such as the USP, FDA, EFSA, EMU, etc.) have established allowable limits of these impurities. If the chitosan company can not validate that their chitosan meets these limits, your product can be rejected.

3)     Consistent and reproducible

The parameters of chitosan must be consistent and reproducible from batch to batch. These are chitosan’s important parameters:

You need to be sure that the chitosan producer can supply high-quality chitosan products, including their consistency and reproducibility from batch to batch. You want to know that the chitosan company can provide the same chitosan that worked in your initial tested formulation. This is especially important as your project moves past establishing proof of concept towards phase-I experiments. This consistency and reproducibility can be validated by the chitosan manufacturer by providing you with certifications of their manufacturing facilities and processes, such as Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and International Standards Organization (ISO).

Get to know your Chitosan Supplier

When you search for the ideal chitosan supplier start with researching on supplier discovery platforms such as directories with ThomasNet, Knowde, American Chemical, etc. and search engines such as Google, Bing, Firefox, etc. These platforms can help you narrow down your search to the top few that you can contact.  These are the things to examines when searching for your ideal chitosan company;

Company Profile

Supply candidates should provide you (on and offline) with a summary of who they are, what they do, and what benefits they can bring to your R&D project or company.

Based on the companies’ information, create a shortlist of the suppliers, and then contact those companies with a Request for Information (RFI).

Geographic Footprint

Are they regional, national, or global?  What geographies do they support? Do you deliver from one or multiple locations? Does their location affect your ability to communication with them or even visit them if needed.

Industries Served

Which industries do they serve and products they supply. Do they supply many products or is chitosan the only product they provide?  Do they supply and/or manufacture and/or market different products and services besides chitosan? The more products they provide may be less time, effort, and expertise they have to allocate to their chitosan products and capabilities. What are your core competencies? How successful have they been in serving the chitosan market. 

Current Customers

Ask to see a sample list of research groups and companies they do business with.

Supply Capacity

What capacities do you have to supply the chitosan you need now and into the future if you require commercial scale volumes of chitosan.

Ask what safeguards they have in place to protect their supply chain to minimize disruption of your ability to get the chitosan you need.

Management Contacts

Who are the appropriate personnel in the company for each step in the supplier discovery and purchasing process?

Be sure to make the right choice from the available chitosan producers. Can they provide you with best suited chitosan with the quality and reproducibility needed?   Remember, the ideal chitosan supplier should help you accelerate your project with high quality chitosan to satisfy your vision!