Every year, in the European Union alone, 750,000 tons of crustacean shells are discarded. Now a project led by Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology (IGB) has come up with a solution to recycle them. The aim is to create a biorefinery for the processing of bio-waste rich in chitin, a biopolymer present in insects and fungi, in whose composition it has nitrogenous sugar molecules joined to form a polymer chain. From them, high-performance bioplastics with different uses could be obtained.
In Asia they had already succeeded in extracting the chitosan polymer from shrimp shells for use in filters, wrappers and wound gauze. However, in Europe crustaceans contain more lime, making the process more complicated and expensive. Furthermore, the high calcium carbonate content of European shell waste has so far prevented chitosan from being processed profitably.
In addition to recycling discarded crustacean shells , which normally end up in the landfill, European researchers are also studying ways to separate biomass residues (proteins and fats) in lobsters, crayfish, prawns, lobsters, spider crabs and crabs for later fermentation for purposes. energetic.
