Project description DEENESFRITPL Turning fisheries biomass into high commercial interest Each year, hundreds of thousands of tonnes of fisheries biomass land in Spain’s ports. It is a by-product that must be managed to avoid environmental pollution. Most of these by-products are used in the production of low-quality fish meals and, as such, the biomass undergoes a low valorisation level. There are alternatives. The EU-funded SUSTIMAR project will maximise the obtaining of compounds of high commercial interest. It will focus on the design, optimisation and integration of the biocompounds production processes with medium-high value added for the use as bioactive compounds of interest to the food, pharmaceutical or nutraceutical industries, by using more efficient as well as environmental and sustainable practices in a marine biorefinery concept. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective More than 30% of the biomass landed by fishing fleets in the ports of Spanish coast constitutes a waste not usable for human consumption, resulting in hundreds of thousands of tons/year of by-products that must be managed urgently to avoid serious environmental pollution problems. To this biomass, we must add the fishing discards that the recent EU policy forces to land in ports. Most of these by-products are used in the production of fish meals, generally of low quality in Spain, in which the biomass undergoes a low valorisation level. Although this type of treatment is necessary to account for some fractions exhibiting low added value, there are other alternatives that maximise the obtaining of compounds of high commercial interest in diverse sectors of application. In this context, the main goal of this IF is to assess different scenarios of valorisation of marine biomass including the design, optimisation and integration of the biocompounds production processes with medium-high value added for the use as bioactive compounds of interest to the food, pharmaceutical or nutraceutical industries, by using more efficient as well as environmental and sustainable practices in a marine biorefinery concept. Based on previous experience with this type of raw material, processes and related methodologies, this project is essentially a research and a development action of optimised protocols for obtaining biocompounds that can be easily transferred to a potential industrial implementation. Fields of science agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesfisheriesnatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesenvironmental sciencespollutionagricultural sciencesagricultural biotechnologybiomass Keywords Sustainability fishery by-products and discards valorisation processes environmental impact modelling optimisation integration Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Main Programme H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility Topic(s) MSCA-IF-2020 - Individual Fellowships Call for proposal H2020-MSCA-IF-2020 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF) Coordinator AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS Net EU contribution € 259 398,72 Address Calle serrano 117 28006 Madrid Spain See on map Region Comunidad de Madrid Comunidad de Madrid Madrid Activity type Research Organisations Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00