Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership-SBEP2023-61 

Link: https://wastetotaste.eu/

Abstract: 

WASTE2TASTE is a network of 8 European partners including academia, research centers, and SME’s, with proven expertise in higher education and endowed with state-of-the-art scientific and technical expertise aimed at the development of commercially viable products by using postharvest fish losses (PHFL), including unwanted fishery by-catch species (e.g., non-indigenous species (NIS) and cartilaginous fish with low commercial value) and by-products from fish processing and aquaculture industries. 
The main WASTE2TASTE objective is the valorization of PHFL, showing potential applications in a circular economy and an eco-friendly vision by developing protocols for sustainable exploitation of underused and/or wasted marine resources, to obtain high-value products for food applications. The base of WASTE2TASTE is to utilize PHFL, naturally rich in proteins and bioactive compounds, to develop innovative green and cost-effective bioprocesses for the production of marine ingredients (e.g., collagen, chitin/chitosan, and fish oil), reducing extraction time and use of hazardous solvents/enzymes allowing, at the same time, to minimize pollution into the ecosystem. 
Therefore, WASTE2TASTE will (i) contribute to reducing the waste volume through the development of appropriate PHFL management measures, (ii) allow to address the European "ZeroWaste" goal aiming at the 3R principle "Reduce, Reuse and Recycle”, (iii) contribute to achieve a resilient and sustainable development for marine/maritime sector and, in an indirect way, (iv) allow to mitigate the NIS, which cause damage to marine ecosystems and humans. 
The challenge is to gain insights into market opportunities that will be profitable and will satisfy new and different attitudes/demands of consumers. 
Overall, WASTE2TASTE will fully exploit the potential of underutilized marine biological resources, from laboratory to industrial scale production of marine collagen and chitosan-based products, with potential commercial uses that reach Technological Readiness Level 7. WASTE2TASTE will create a nutritional end product targeting different end-users’ health issues (e.g., exercise performance, muscle growth, joint problems, gut health, and obesity). 

Bando PRIN 2022 PNRR – MUR - Project ID P2022AASFH 

https://www.linkedin.com/company/progetto-biomina/posts/

Abstract:  

Potentially toxic elements (PTEs) includes many metals, which are non-degradable, carcinogenic and associated to chronic deseases. Anthropic activities are the principal cause for their diffusion into the environments, where they tend to accumulate and spread into the food chain. Strategies for their removal often require physical/chemical processes which can generate pollutants and other secondary toxic waste. Microbial induced calcite precipitation (MICP) is a natural process consisting in the formation of calcium carbonate using cell metabolic products such as carbonic acid and calcium ions present in the solution. MICP has been proposed as a possible treatment for metal recovery. In the MICP process, calcites can incorporate metals (e.g., Pb2+) via substitution of divalent cations (Ca2+) in the calcite lattice causing their mineralization to insoluble forms that can be then recovered. At the moment, microorganisms used for these processes have been isolated from contaminated soil. However, MICP is a process common to many marine microorganisms from bacteria to cyanobacteria, from microalgae to fungi and therefore the ocean can represent a good source of novel high-MICP activities to use for metal bioremediation. The final goal of this project is to develop new biological systems for bioremediation of toxic metals exploiting MICP capabilities of marine microorganisms. We will perform sampling in the Tyrrhenian sea looking for areas characterized by high metal contamination and/or carbonate presence. These sediments will be used for the isolation and characterization of bacteria, cyanobacteria, microalgae and fungi able to perform MICP and resist high concentration of PTEs. We will then characterize the isolated microorganisms and their mechanism of bioprecipitation of calcite and the produced minerals. We will prefer those microorganisms exhibiting several mechanisms including urease, but also by carbonic anhydrase and photosynthesis, with the great advantage to consume CO2 for the production of carbonic acid and then of calcite. Furthermore, we will utilize the produced calcite particles to generate electrospun fibers as flexible 3D filters for the adsorption and sequestering of PTEs. We will then test the isolated microorganisms and the fibers for the removals (precipitation or sequestration) of PTEx from environemental matrices such as mine tailings. This project will provide new sustainable solutions for the treatment of metal-contaminated waste, decreasing pollution and at the same time recovering valuable resources, while also shedding light on MICP mechanisms of marine microorganisms which are still poorly studied. Moreover, we address societal challenges with a multi-faceted approach to promote sustainability and circular economy.