Vaterite Synthesized by Waste Liquid of Extracting Chitin from Crab Shells and the Mineral Loading for Doxorubicin Hydrochloride

To effectively treat the environmental pollution caused by discarded crab shell, chitin was extracted from discarded crab shells by a combined chemical and biological process. The chitin extraction waste liquid was used to culture bacteria to synthesize biogenic vaterite (BV). The mineral morphology and physico-chemical properties of BV were characterized, and the loading characteristics and adsorption mechanism of doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) were investigated. The results showed that chitin could be extracted from crab shells using a combination of chemical and biological methods, and the purity of the extracted chitin reached 89.79%; cultivation of Bacillus velezensis using extraction waste liquid can induce the synthesis of stable BV; the maximum drug loading of BV towards DOX was 447.58 mg/g and its adsorption behavior fitted the Freundlich model. The findings provide new information for the processing utilization of waste crab shells and the development of novel drug carriers.