Upgrading of by-products of the seafood industry

The question of how knowledge of certain organisms can be used to upgrade whole product lines lies at the centre of current research. For the purpose of clarification, this process, in-cluding control and assessment of the interactions between process design and properties, was divided into four steps through observation, analysis, and evaluation completed at pre-determined intervals:1.Substance characterisation2.Narrowing of goals3.Product and process conceptualisation4.Application and optimisationPotential sources of the blue pigment phycocyanine were studied within the framework of "substance characterisation". If enough can be extracted at an acceptable price, phycocya-nine can be widely used in organic foods and cosmetics. Phycocyanine can be extracted through the use of Cyanobacteria, whose substitute Spirulina sp. yields more than 3.000 tons of biomass annually and is sold in many health food markets mainly in the U.S., Canada, Japan, and Europe. Products based on Spirulina were analysed based on their concentration of phycocyanine and were compared with Spirulina strains from independent reference stocks. To "narrow the goals", Spirulina products that hadn't been characterised/identified were appropriately classified, and the fermentation behaviour of comparable strains, based on an increased yield of phycocyanine, were studied. This process determined that different cul-tures from the same collection of strains had a higher production potential as those that had been used for biomass production. This could also be further increased by targeted fermenta-tion optimisation. This observation leads to the conclusion that previous production strains were chosen specifically based on their biomass productivity. However, there are more ap-propriate strains from which to extract phycocyanine. So that production isn't bound to cer-tain strains that are easily available, which makes a business vulnerable to competition, a genetic marker was developed with the goal of a "unique selling proposition." This marker allows unknown isolates to be tested for their phycocyanine production potential. Appropri-ate samples could be subjected to fermentation screening and used for production.The phase "product- and process conceptualisation" was further illustrated through a study of the processing of the arctic prawn Pandalus borealis. 10.000 tons of these prawns are fished annually from the seas surrounding the EU. A by-product of this processing is a wastewater which, besides proteins and fats, contains carotinoides, in particular astaxanthin. Astaxanthin has commercial value in the production of aquaculture products, such as farmed salmon or crustaceans, to create the red flesh colouring expected by the consumer. Astaxan-thin is produced by several microorganisms in nature, however it is artificially created through chemical syntheses to standardise aquaculture feed. By implementing flotation methods used by the wastewater treatment industry, the released matter from the processing of the prawns could be separated and dried to a residual moisture of 10%, making it capable of being stored. A vacuum paddle wheel dryer proved particularly useful for the steps of "application and optimisation". The product derived from this process contained 336 mg/kg DW of astaxanthin, which is four times more astaxanthin as is currently used in feed for aquacultures. This product, as well as astaxanthin components, could be combined with fishmeal and plant proteins for fish or crustacean farming, which would be especially rele-vant in farms who are restricted from using synthetic ingredients in their feed.In conclusion, the sensible combination of nature and engineering creates potential upgrad-ing concepts to create valuable products from what would otherwise be waste material. This creates new possibilities even for small businesses, and besides lowering the environmental impact of wastewater, it also raises the (cost effectiveness, efficiency, profitability) of a whole manufacturing process.

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