Eco‐efficiency of a marine biorefinery for valorization of cartilaginous fish biomass

Fishing activities produce discards that need to be reduced. Apart from the production of fishmeal and fish oil, other alternatives to manage this discard fraction are possible. High‐added value bio‐compounds (such as gelatin, collagen or fish protein hydrolysates, among others) can be extracted from the previously discarded fish biomass and its by‐products. While it is clear that these valorization strategies will produce economic benefits, they also will cause an impact on the environment of variable magnitude. Therefore, an eco‐efficiency assessment is necessary to discern which processes are most suitable for planning a valorization strategy. Within this type of wasted organic material, biomass from cartilaginous fish offered additional valorization potential, since other compounds such as cartilage or chondroitin sulfate can be obtained. The environmental impacts of the different valorization schemes implemented and tested on a fully operative real marine biorefinery located in an important Spanish fishing port (Marín—NW Spain) were quantified using the life cycle assessment methodology, while the benefit of the proposed systems was estimated as the gross benefit. The results obtained indicate that the extraction of high value‐added bio‐compounds is generally more eco‐efficient than the established process of fishmeal production, although its environmental performance is worse. Nevertheless, these environmental impacts could be reduced by optimizing and scaling‐up the production processes and the associated equipment, especially focusing on the energy and water consumption of the plant.