Chitosan is used as a long chain polymer compound, and the active group in the molecule-NH3+can adsorb the negatively charged components in the solution, such as protein, gum, tannin, some polysaccharides and so on. because of the linear structure of chitosan, each chitosan molecule contains many -NH3+, can adsorb multiple impurity particles on the same molecule, thus it acts as a bridge between impurity particles, connecting many particles together to form flocs, the flocs grow and become larger, and quickly settle to achieve clarification.
Chitosan as a clarifier has the following advantages: Chitosan is non-toxic and tasteless, biodegradable and will not cause secondary pollution. Chitosan removes the larger suspended particles from the stock solution through the action of "adsorption bridge" and "electric neutralization ", and uses natural colloid protection to make the preparation clear and retain more components in the traditional Chinese medicine solution. The dosage is very small, generally 3/10000. This technology can replace the water purification and sedimentation process, which is superior to the latter in retaining the index components, and can significantly reduce the cost.
Chinese medicine composition is complex, chitosan has different effects on the effective components of different drugs, and the amount of chitosan, time, temperature, PH、 stirring strength and speed have great influence on the effect of the active components, so the corresponding process conditions should be determined through repeated experiments.