Kinetic study of chitosan degradation by an electrochemical process

The kinetics of chitosan degradation by an electrochemical process was studied in this work. The order of degradation reaction was determined according to the dependence of degradation rate constant on initial chitosan concentration. For electrochemical degradation of chitosan, the apparent rate constant varied inversely with initial chitosan concentration, suggesting that the degradation reaction was zeroth-order in chitosan concentration. The influence of experimental conditions on the degradation rate constant was also investigated in detail. The degradation rate constant increased with current density, acetic acid concentration, and temperature. The influence of temperature on the degradation rate was modeled using the Arrhenius equation and the activation energy was determined to be 14.16 kJ/mol under the experimental conditions examined. The variation of sodium acetate concentrations had a negligible influence on degradation rate of chitosan.