Upcycled aquaculture waste as textile ingredient for promoting circular economy

Abstract

Fish farming (aquaculture) provides a stable source of nutritional protein, especially in Asia's coastline, distributed throughout the South China region of the mainland, southwestern Taiwan, and Southeast Asia, providing a continuous supply chain system. Novel textile material, from upcycling of fish scales, has been manufactured. The material constitutes of collagen peptide amino acid ingredients extracted from fish scales, which are used to create collagen modification polyester via a supramolecular method. The development of the collagen modification polyester, UMORFIL®T, can make a valuable contribution to the textile industry. After various experiments and characterizations, it was shown that the collagen modification polyester in this study contained a certain amount of collagen and retained the advantages of regular polyester. In addition, the characteristics of the original regular polyester were changed by the presence of collagen. The new properties included a natural champagne‑gold color, better hand-feel, and odor control, which make the material a premium and sustainable choice for functional textiles. This study creates a new direction for a circular economy product, collagen modification polyester, that can protect the ecology, reduce environmental pollution, protect planet soil, provide premium value for the textile industry, and raise the value of aquaculture.