COLLAGEN FROM AQUACULTURE BY-PRODUCTS

The challenge

Aquaculture in Australia is fast-growing with a production estimate of AUD 3.06 billion in 2020 ¹˒² ³ and has significant potential to meet the increasing demand for seafood. Aquaculture production generates significant amounts of waste (approximately 50,080 T in the manufacturing stage⁴ including heads, tails, guts, skin, and scales with landfilling the most common method of seafood waste disposal. As aquaculture by-products are a steady, reliable waste stream, there has been considerable interest and progress in extracting collagen from fish processing waste.⁵ Using fish by-products as a source of collagen significantly reduces waste and eliminates the need for other mammalian-based sources. Swinburne University of Technology has developed a method to produce high value collagen protein from aquaculture by-products, opening an innovative model for reducing waste generation in fish industries. At present this method has only been applied to skin and has not been expanded to other tissues including scales, frames and gut material. In this project, Swinburne will accelerate this opportunity for the aquaculture industry to prioritise the efficient use of resources and the minimisation of waste by scaling-up extraction methods and trialling additional tissue types.

Our plan

Swinburne University, in collaboration with End Food Waste CRC and with guidance from Sampano, aims to provide a circular design strategy that can help the aquaculture industry to eliminate waste generation and at the same time provides an innovative and sustainable route to manufacture collagen proteins.

This project will consider the efficiency and effectiveness of alternative approaches to raw material extraction and the subsequent fractionation and purification. Considerations will include, but not be limited to, any changes (increases) in energy consumption and associated emissions, and the additional chemical inputs, with a focus on those with lower environmental impact in production, use and disposal.

This project is supported by the Victorian Government’s Circular Economy Innovation Fund as part of the Circular Economy Business Innovation Centre (CEBIC).

References:

1. https://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/news/aquaculture-lifts-seafood-value-to-3-billion-in-2022-23
2. https://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/research-topics/fisheries/fisheries-economics/fisheries-forecasts
3. Australian Fisheries and Aquaculture Outlook 2023
4. Bogard J.R ., Farmery A.K., Baird D.L., Hendrie G.A., Zhou S. (2019) Nutrients 11, 1766
5. Ampitiya A.G.D.M., Gonapinuwala S.T., Fernando C.A.N., de Croos M.D.S. (2023) Extraction and characterisation of type I collagen from the skin offcuts generated at the commercial fish processing centres. J. Food Sci. and Tech. 60, 484