Scientists hope to clean up with fish oil by-product
A Scottish start-up business is hoping to use fish oil waste from aquaculture to create detergents for cleaning products.
Eco Clean Team is working with researchers from the University of St Andrews to develop a new process for making surfactants, a key component in detergents.
With six-figure funding support from the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre, Eco Clean is aiming to develop a more sustainable alternative to traditionally petrochemical-based surfactants, which can be produced at scale.
Surfactants – or surface active agents – are used in detergents to disrupt the surface tension on the item being cleaned, helping to trap and remove dirt. Different types of surfactants are used as wetting agents, emulsifiers and foaming agents for a range of products.
The aim of the new project is to use fish oil waste, rich in fatty acids, from fish processing, especially salmon.
The bio-based process developed by researchers at the University of St Andrews has the potential to be more cost effective, efficient and eco-friendly than traditional methods of producing surfactants.The next stage of its development will ensure the new method is replicable and straightforward to implement, and allows surfactants to be producible in high volumes.
Mark Hamilton, co-founder and Director of Eco Clean said:“This next stage in our research represents a critical step in the process of development then scaling up the production of our sustainable surfactant.
“We have already proved the feasibility in a previous study and hope that, by the end of this project, we will find ourselves closer to
full-scale commercialisation and seeing the surfactant used in a range of industrial and selected household products.”