This book reviews recent research and applications of chitin and chitosan, as natural alternatives of fossil fuel products, in medicine and pharmacy, agriculture, food science and water treatment. Chitin and chitosan products are polysaccharides derived from food waste of crustaceans and fungi, and thus are cheap, abundant, sustainable, non-toxic, recyclable and biocompatible. Remarkable applications include food additives and preservation, packaging materials, biopesticides and fertilisers, drug delivery, tissue engineering, bioflocculation and dye removal.

Dr. Grégorio Crini is researcher at University Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Besançon. His current interests focus on the design of novel polymer networks and the environmental aspects of polysaccharide chemistry. He published over 190 papers in international journals and books, and he is a highly cited researcher. The total citation of his publications is over 8700, h-index: 33. Dr. Eric Lichtfouse is a biogeochemist at Aix Marseille University who has invented carbon-13 dating, a molecular-level method allowing to study the dynamics of organic compounds in temporal pools of complex environmental media. He is Chief Editor of the journal Environmental Chemistry Letters, and the book series Sustainable Agriculture Reviews and Environmental Chemistry for a Sustainable World.