| abstract |
Disclosed are methods for manufacturing a chitosan microflake. A chitosan microflake can be manufactured by two different ways. In the first method, chitosan is dissolved in a weak acidic solution to give a chitosan solution, which is then incubated for 1 to 30 days. The chitosan solution is then dried by a freeze-drying process, a thermal drying process, or a vacuum drying process so as to extract a solidified chitosan film. The solidified chitosan film is pulverized to yield a chitosan microflake which has a width at least ten fold greater than a thickness. In the second method, a multi-layered, air-gapped sheet of chitosan is manufactured first and pulverized so as to yield the chitosan microflake. The overall steps of the second method are similar to those of the fist method, and the only difference is a drying step. In the first method, drying is performed continuously without intermittence, but in the second method drying is conducted at substantially regular time intervals. |