Commercial exploitation of marine collagen and chitin from marine sources (BlueCC

Research Project, 2020 – 2023

The BlueCC project aims to take underutilised sources of marine biomass, such as invasive marine species, bycatch and cleaner fish from the aquaculture industry to develop new eco-friendly marine ingredients and products in a market acceptance approach. The focus will be on sustainably exploiting chitin/chitosan and collagen
produced by invasive crabs, jellyfish, starfish and cleaner fish, respectively, and demonstrate prototype products containing these polymers and/or their hydrolysates.
To succeed with product development of research-intense products such as chitin/chitosan and collagen, we will apply a strong emphasis on market needs and insights throughout the project. BlueCC will be carried out by an interdisciplinary team and is divided into four main work packages addressing: (i) market driven concept
development, (ii) sustainable chitin/chitosan and collagen demonstrators, (iii) characterization of the novel marine ingredients, including e.g. anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial effects, and finally (iv) commercialization feasibility in an RRI framework.
Altogether, BlueCC will in a sustainable and efficient manner exploit underutilized marine raw materials, from laboratory to prototype demonstration, to reach collagen- and chitin/chitosan-based bioactive demonstrators with potential commercial uses reaching the Technology Readiness Level 7.