Crustacean waste biorefinery as a sustainable cost-effective business model

Abstract

Marine-derived food wastes mainly include seafood, fish and feed production resources. From the crustaceans traded annually, 6 to 8 million tonnes of valuable shrimp, lobster and/or crab shells waste are produced worldwide. In this systemic work, the researchers with complementary technical expertise, covering the fields of chemical engineering design, chemistry, materials, predictive environmental sciences and economy, worked together to develop a sustainable multiproduct pipeline for the biorefinery of unwanted by-products. All process bio-products from the shells waste were recovered, separated, and purified. Only harmless solvents, namely water, the protonating acetic acid under mild functional conditions and buffers, conjugated with solid–liquid extraction, centrifugation, and membrane ultrafiltration technologies were applied. Here, a success business model is shown after its standardised evaluation in terms of purification performance, economic impact, and life cycle assessment has been performed, driving this sector towards a sustainable ocean-based economy.