This review addresses potential uses in winemaking of chitin, chitosan and their derivatives. Chitosan and chitin are extracted from fungal food sources: Aspergillus niger and Agaricus bisporus.
Chitin-glucan (chitosan precursor) is a polysaccharide copolymer: chitin (repeating N-acetyl-D-glucosamine and D-glucosamine units) and beta-(1,3)-glucan (repeating D-glucose units) derived from chitin. Chitosan is a polymer composed of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine and D-glucosamine sub-units obtained from chitin.
Chitin, chitosan and their derivatives have potential uses in different wine production aspects, in particular for stabilization, clarification, deacidification, removal of heavy metals (lead, cadmium) or major metals (iron, copper), elimination of ochratoxin A, enzymes and pesticides.
Published in “Chitin and Chitosan”, Franche-Compté Univerisity Press, Besançon, 2009, Chapiter 10
