Project title	Biorefinery approach to valorising Thai seafood processing industry by-products
Award discipline	Environment, Agriculture and Food Sciences
Funder	Co Funder by Newton Fund, British Council, UK and Thai-OPS, Thailand
Project period	12 months
Award References	623717508

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	Name	Role	Institution
Thailand	Asst.Prof.Tantawan Pirak	Thai-PI	Kasetsart University, Thailand
UK	Professor Stephen R. Euston	UK-PI	Heriot-Watt University, The UK
	Professor Derek Stewart	UK-co PI	Heriot-Watt University, The UK

  The Thai seafood industry is the 3rd largest in the world, accounts for around 2% of Thai GDP, adds over $7bn pa to its economy, and employs over 650k workers. The export value of Thai processed seafood in 2018 was $3.9 bn. In 2019, 2.48Mt of seafood were processed. Processing, via the 700 factories, generates a conservative estimate of 1Mt of by-product annually with approximately 50% of fish/shellfish production as waste (shell, head, tails, skin, gut, fins and frames). This can be converted to fishmeal, fish silage, chitin, fertilizer, feed or sent to landfill. Meal and silage are low value, whilst landfill contributes only to greenhouse gas emissions. Finding higher value options for the processing of this waste will not only be profitable, but also improve the environmental sustainability of the industry. We propose (through this project) to ensure the processing by-product accrues value and that this feeds back to the primary producers and processors. To this end, this research project will take a hypothetical design for a seafood biorefinery, developed by the partners in a previous project, and test this design at lab scale on Thai sourced seafood waste, with a view to scale up beyond this project. Fishing and seafood processing is labour-intensive and the maximisation of value back down the chain is essential to improve and enhance sustainability. Shifting to a dual product operation, seafood, and high value chemicals (protein, carbohydrates, oils, carotenoids), will certainly be of value. This aligns with the Thai Government 20 years strategy aims of increasing competitiveness and creating economic growth that is friendly to the environment (https://www.hiso.or.th/hiso/picture/reportHealth/ThaiHealth2017/eng2017_ 16.pdf). Moreover, since the seafood sector accounts for about 27% of Thai agri-food GDP and about half of total agri-food sector employment, the increase in value for the seafood industry will generate significant value in the overall economy. This database is a part of our deliverables in the grant called “Newton Fund Institutional Links” which funded by Newton Fund, British Council, UK and Thai OPS.