Effectiveness Inhibition of Fermentation Legen using Chitosan Nanoparticles Heri Septya Kusuma * , Hendarta Agasi and Handoko Darmokoesoemo Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Airlangga University, Surabaya, Jawa Timur, Indonesia * Corresponding author: Heri Septya Kusuma, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Airlangga University, Surabaya, Jawa Timur, Indonesia, E-mail: heriseptyakusuma@gmail.com Received date: May 27, 2015; Accepted date: June 26, 2015; Published date: July 03, 2015 Copyright: © 2015 Kasuma HS, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract Legen is one of the traditional drink that has been widely known among the people of Indonesia. Beside from being a refreshing drink, legen also has many properties, such as the prevention of stomach ulcers, increase vitality, shed the pain of kidney stones, prevent hemorrhoids disease, and natural doping to maintain stamina. Legen could be alcoholic beverages if the storage period exceeds two days. So it takes a substance that can inhibit the fermentation process of the legen. One material that has potential as inhibitors of fermentation is chitosan. For the effectiveness of inhibitory fermentation process of the legen, then in this study used chitosan nanoparticles. Based on the results of the solubility test and characterization by FT-IR and PSA, it is known that chitosan nanoparticles have been synthesized. The addition of chitosan nanoparticles influence on the inhibition fermentation process of the legen. It can be seen from the testing alcohol levels and the quality of the samples which include aroma and flavor. After being left for 5 days, the alcohol content in the sample legen with treatment (addition of chitosan nanoparticles) was (1.414 ± 0.046)% v/v, while the alcohol content in the sample legen without treatment (control) was (4.243 ± 0.026)% v/v. Based on the quality of the sample test legen that have added a solution of chitosan nanoparticles, it can be seen that the addition of chitosan nanoparticles did not affect the aroma and flavor of legen. Keywords: Legen; Alcoholic beverages; Chitosan; Nanoparticles; Fermentation Introduction Indonesia is a country rich in natural resources. Fisheries Indonesia is one sector that has a promising future. It was seen by the increase in export value of fishery products nationwide. As reported kkp.go.id, the value of total fishery exports to Indonesia by commodities from January to November 2013 reached US$ 3.77 billion, an increase of 6.985% of the US$ 3.53 billion in 2012. In that period, the shrimp turns out to be the main export commodity of Indonesian fishery with a value of US$ 1.280 million. Exports of shrimp increased by 25.46% from the previous year with the largest contribution value of frozen shrimp worth US$ 1.121 million. Along with the increase in shrimp production, the waste generated from processing the shrimp will also increase. The amount of waste produced is not processed immediately otherwise it will cause environmental pollution. During this time the shrimp waste treatment is only used as materials for crackers, shrimp paste, and supplements for forage. Whereas waste from the shrimp is a potential for shrimp shells contain chitin approximately 99.1% [1]. Chitin when further processing will produce chitosan that can be used as a preservative and stabilizer products. Chitosan can be used as a food or drinks preservative because it is able to inhibit the growth of microorganisms that makes rotten and simultaneously coating the product is preserved so that there is minimal interaction between the product and its environment [2]. Legen is one of the traditional drink that has been widely known among the Indonesia people’s. Legen is a beverage derived from palm trees. Beside from being a refreshing drink turns legen has many properties, such as the prevention of stomach ulcers, increase vitality, shed the pain of kidney stones, prevent hemorrhoids disease, and natural doping to maintain stamina. But legen would just be a refreshing and healthy drink when still aged 0 to 2 days. If it has been over two days, the legen will undergo fermentation turn into young wine has low alcohol content below 2%. The longer vulnerable time passed legen, the greater the alcohol content in it which means that the legend has become a heady wine. One of the materials that can be used to inhibit the fermentation process is chitosan. In this research are used in the form of nanoparticles of chitosan to inhibit the fermentation process at the legen. With the added chitosan nanoparticles into the legen expected inhibition of legen fermentation process can be run more effectively. Method Preparation shrimp shell powder Shrimp shells washed clean of dirt, then dried in the sunlight. Once dried shrimp shells crushed into powder and sieved. Isolation of chitin from shrimp shells Removal of protein found in shrimp shell powder (deproteination): Shrimp shell powder put into a glass beaker and then added a solution of NaOH 7% with the comparison between shrimp shell powder with a solution of NaOH 1:10 (g powder/mL NaOH). This process is carried out with stirring for about 2 hours at a temperature of 65°C. Then the mixture is separated with filtered to take the precipitate. Furthermore, the precipitate was washed by using distilled water to neutral pH. Then the precipitate that is filtered and dried in an oven at 60°C [3]. The removal of minerals from shrimp shell powder (demineralization): The precipitate results deproteination put into a glass beaker and then added a solution of HCl 1N with a comparison Molecular and Genetic Medicine Kusuma et al, J Mol Genet Med 2015, 9:3 http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/1747-0862.1000173 Research Article Open Access J Mol Genet Med ISSN:1747-0862 JMGM, an open access journal Volume 9 • Issue 3 • 1000173