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Very soon, your moisturizer will probably be made from shrimp. This is the objective of Brazilian researchers who wish to reduce food waste linked to the consumption of this small crustacean.
To reduce food waste linked to the consumption of shrimp, Brazilian scientists are currently carrying out all kinds of experiments. Products such as moisturizing creams, medicines or even insecticides, could be designed based on a compound contained in the shells of these crustaceans which could soon see the light of day.
The association between seafood and cosmetics
Along with oysters, scallops and crabs, it is the turn of shrimp to be added to the list of crustaceans and molluscs at the origin of innovations aimed at limiting food waste. Massively consumed in Brazil, particularly in the north of the country, it has been the subject of research for several years in the laboratory of the Federal University of Amapa, a state located on the border of French Guiana.
The principle is simple. It consists of recovering tons of shrimp shell waste to extract chitin. It is a nitrogen component with many virtues. Chitin is naturally present in the shrimp exoskeleton. Once the shells have been harvested, they are cleaned of their organic waste, depigmented, deodorized, then reduced to powder to produce chitosan (a chemical derivative of chitin).
The material is capable of forming up to 12 substances, which can be used in the production of various products such as insecticides and medicines.
A not-so-new study on chitin…
The Brazilian team is not the first to carry out this type of experiment: American scientists from Washington State University and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are working on a new type of cement composed of nanoparticles. of chitin from shrimp shell detritus.
According to their study published in September in the journal Cement and Concrete Composites, the addition of this component significantly improved the strength of cement. Thanks to this method, the researchers hope to be able to manufacture concrete using less cement, knowing that this material is the source of around 8% of global CO2 emissions.