1. Valorisation of Seafood Side-Streams through the Design of New Holistic Value Chains:WaSeaBi Project
- Author
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Cadena, Erasmo, Kocak, Ozan, Dewulf, Jo, Iñarra, Bruno, Bald, Carlos, Gutierrez, Monica, San Martin, David, Ibarruri, Jone, Sørensen, Ann Dorit Moltke, Hyldig, Grethe, Abdollahi, Mehdi, Undeland, Ingrid, Forghani, Bita, Wu, Haizhou, Bruggeman, Geert, Jacobsen, Charlotte, Cadena, Erasmo, Kocak, Ozan, Dewulf, Jo, Iñarra, Bruno, Bald, Carlos, Gutierrez, Monica, San Martin, David, Ibarruri, Jone, Sørensen, Ann Dorit Moltke, Hyldig, Grethe, Abdollahi, Mehdi, Undeland, Ingrid, Forghani, Bita, Wu, Haizhou, Bruggeman, Geert, and Jacobsen, Charlotte
- Abstract
Growing demand in the fisheries sector has resulted in a high generation of side-streams that are mainly treated as waste despite their potential value in terms of protein, fatty acids, and minerals. The WaSeaBi project, funded by the EU under the Horizon 2020 BBI JU initiative, seeks to address this problem by promoting the sustainable and economically viable utilisation of these side-streams, thus contributing to improved food security and environmental conservation. The project focuses on the development of innovative technologies and methodologies for the efficient valorisation of seafood side-streams into marketable products such as protein-based food ingredients, bioactive peptides, and mineral supplements. The WaSeaBi project started with a comprehensive analysis to identify the bottlenecks hindering the efficient utilisation of side-streams. To this end, a comprehensive study of the European seafood industry was conducted to understand the existing challenges. The main obstacles identified were technological deficiencies, lack of space and personnel, and a limited market for the resulting products. Several laboratory-scale technologies, such as pH-shift, enzymatic hydrolysis, membrane concentration, and flocculation with centrifugation, were explored in order to extract valuable components from the side-streams. Subsequently, these technologies were scaled-up and tested on a pilot scale. For example, membrane concentration technology facilitated the recovery of valuable molecules from mussel cooking side-streams while reducing environmental impact. Flocculation helped recover proteins and phosphates from process waters, crucial for reducing the organic load of effluents. In addition, decision-making tools were developed to help select and build the most appropriate valorisation strategies, taking into account technical, legal, economic, and environmental aspects. Environmental sustainability was assessed through life cycle assessment, which highlighted th
- Published
- 2024