Production of Glutamic Acid from Fish Wastes

Glutamic acid is the most abundant free amino acid, with a concentration of about 500-900 μmol/l. Glutamic acid, relative to other pure amino acids, is produced in the largest quantities around the world. The nonessential amino acid glutamic acid has recently been the focus of extensive scientific interest because of its importance in inducing immune response and improving memory power. Glutamine has a major impact on the functionality of the immune system. Usually glutamic acid is produced by microbial fermentation and chemical methods. The glutamic acid can be extracted from fish because fish protein contains high concentration of glutamic acid when compared to other amino acids. Hence we extracted the amino acid from fish waste collected from fish market. The proteins from fish waste are hydrolyzed enzymaticaly by neutrase and alcalase for 48 hours to extract the amino acids. Then the glutamic acid is confirmed by thin layer chromatography and eluted by ion exchange chromatography using synthetic anion exchanger resin. The amount of glutamic acid is estimated by copper titration method.