Disclosed is a process for forming films, fibers, and beads comprising a chitinous mass, for example, chitin, chitosan obtained from one or more biomasses. The disclosed process can be used to prepare films, fibers, and beads comprising only polymers, i.e., chitin, obtained from a suitable biomass, or the films, fibers, and beads can comprise a mixture of polymers obtained from a suitable biomass and a naturally occurring and/or synthetic polymer. Disclosed herein are the films, fibers, and beads obtained from the disclosed process. This Abstract is presented solely to aid in searching the subject matter disclosed herein and is not intended to define, limit, or otherwise provide the full scope of the disclosed subject matter.