Chitin was extracted from shrimp shell waste and its heterogeneous alkaline deacetylation under phase transfer catalysis (PTC) condition was performed. The reaction followed the first-order kinetics during an initial period. The influences of type and concentration of phase transfer catalyst, type of organic solvent, alkaline concentration, temperature, time and volume of organic phase to the volume of aqueous phase ratio on the N-deacetylation were investigated. The degree of deacetylation (DD) increased mainly with increasing temperature, catalyst concentration and time. In the temperature range of 30-100 degrees C, the apparent rate constant and the activation energy of the reaction were evaluated in presence and in absence of PTC condition. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.