Have you ever thought about what happens to waste from the fishing industry? With EU support, Estonian scientists have found a great answer: they transform it into wound dressings and leather-like fabrics! Experts in fisheries, fish processing, science, and production joined forces to tackle the persistent problem of fish waste and unlocked the potential of raw materials like gelatine, chitin, and chitosan, by turning them into innovative nanofibers.
Extracting hidden treasures
The fishing industry produces a lot of solid and liquid waste, ranging from inedible parts of fish, skin, heads, tails, bones, to wastewater from processing. With certain operators having year-round catches, waste production is a continuous challenge. Disposal is costly and overlooks the the hidden treasures the waste has to offer.
Extracting raw materials from waste isn’t a new idea but the project aimed to go beyond established applications. Gelatine, chitin, and chitosan already have diverse uses in food, medicine, cosmetics, and biotechnology. Gelatine, a protein from animal skin, bones, and cartilage, is a common gelling agent, thickener, and stabiliser. Chitin and chitosan are used in biomedical, food, and agricultural applications due to biodegradability, non-toxicity, and antimicrobial properties.
Innovating beyond established uses
This project focused on extracting and converting raw materials into nanofibrous material for various uses, including wound dressings and leather-like fabrics. Gelatine-based business card pockets and wound patches were crafted to illustrate potential applications.
EU funding supported the team’s ground-breaking research, bringing together experts from different organisations and companies. Fishing and fish processing teams from Latikas OÜ, provided the fish waste and insights on its production. Scientists from the Estonian University of Life Sciences developed methods to extract high-quality raw materials from fisheries waste and explored alternative uses for fish gelatine.
Another team from the Institute of Pharmacy at the University of Tartu (led by Prof K. Kogermann) played a key role in characterising the produced gelatine, chitin, and chitosan batches. They tested the suitability for nanofiber formation using electrospinning technology and produced fish gelatine-based wound dressings that meet pharmaceutical and medical standards. Their spin-off, EsaDres, is bringing these wound dressings into clinical environments. Finally, Gelatex Technologies OÜ, an Estonian company developing innovative nanofibrous materials, helped improve the gelatine-extraction processes and produced innovative gelatine-based leather-like textile specimens.
A step towards circularity
As explained by project leader Dr Anu Kisand from the Estonian University of Life Sciences, “we consider this research to be one important step towards recognition that biowastes, including local fish wastes, contain valuable constituents, biopolymers among them, which can be processed into highly valuable new products.”
In addition to creating valuable new products, testing also revealed that fish gelatine has a good shelf-life when stored under controlled conditions, a discovery that opens the door to further innovation possibilities.
This innovative project showcases how viewing waste as a resource can lead to groundbreaking solutions and sustainable practices, ultimately transforming the fishing industry and beyond.
More information
Lead project team from Estonian University of Life Sciences
Project partners