Ning Yan’s interview for a prestigious position at the National University of Singapore in 2012 included the traditional group dinner for such occasions – a plate of sauce-smothered chili crab. He left after the meal with more than a full belly and a messy shirt.
“At that moment, I realised how much shelled waste there was in the region,” said Yan, now an associate professor at the university. “I’ve always wanted to start a project to make value out of large quantities of waste.”
Crab and shrimp shells, while smelly nuisances in the garbage, are composed of valuable building blocks for a $1.9 billion (Dh66.1bn) industry providing feedstock to sectors from agriculture to biomedicine. The problem is, breaking them down has typically required caustic chemicals that are harmful if released into the environment.
Mr Yan is part of a niche movement of firms and researchers trying to find cleaner ways to convert seafood shells into chitin and its refined cousin chitosan, a type of sugar with antibacterial and anti-fungal properties that can be used in wound dressings, cataract surgery, food supplements and a host of other applications.
Indeed, demand for chitosan is expected to grow at about 11 per cent per year through to 2030, according to Nandini Roy, a food and beverage lead at London-based business analysis firm Future Market Insights.
The substance is typically made by soaking the shells in hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide, Ms Roy said. It’s cheap, but the chitosan it produces doesn’t work well for sensitive applications like biomedicine. Other researchers are trying to extract the substance using bacteria and enzymes.
Mr Yan uses a simpler two-step method. First the cleaned shells are ground down and immersed in pure water heated to 180 degrees Celsius under pressure to remove proteins that make the shells hard. Then carbon dioxide is dissolved into the water to form a weak acid that removes unwanted minerals, yielding the chitin once the liquid dries away.
The so-called biomass fractionation process takes hours to complete, and cuts the amount of CO2 emissions by nearly 95 per cent compared with the chemical extraction method, Mr Yan said.
While such methods may work in the laboratory, they’ve so far been too expensive or difficult to scale to compete with other natural polymers that can do the same job, Ms Roy said. “There is a long way to go for such bio-friendly methods,” she said. “They will be in the research phase for likely the next five years.”
Mr Yan is undeterred. He’s in the middle of the global shellfish industry – about 90 per cent of the world’s shrimp, crab and lobsters, 8.4 million tons worth, came from Asia in 2018, mostly from China and Indonesia, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation. And he’s ready to test his method in volume.
Mr Yan said he’s in talks with a subsidiary of a global chemical company to build a facility in Vietnam that would commercialise his team’s method. Vietnam is the world’s third-largest producer of shelled seafood and the plant would source discarded shells directly from farms.
“We have proved the concept, now we want to prove the value of the method,” Mr Yan said.
Is it worth it? We put cheesecake frap to the test.
The verdict from the nutritionists is damning. But does a cheesecake frappuccino taste good enough to merit the indulgence?
My advice is to only go there if you have unusually sweet tooth. I like my puddings, but this was a bit much even for me. The first hit is a winner, but it's downhill, slowly, from there. Each sip is a little less satisfying than the last, and maybe it was just all that sugar, but it isn't long before the rush is replaced by a creeping remorse. And half of the thing is still left.
The caramel version is far superior to the blueberry, too. If someone put a full caramel cheesecake through a liquidiser and scooped out the contents, it would probably taste something like this. Blueberry, on the other hand, has more of an artificial taste. It's like someone has tried to invent this drink in a lab, and while early results were promising, they're still in the testing phase. It isn't terrible, but something isn't quite right either.
So if you want an experience, go for a small, and opt for the caramel. But if you want a cheesecake, it's probably more satisfying, and not quite as unhealthy, to just order the real thing.
What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
- Cinematography, shots and movement.
- All aspects of post-production.
- Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
- Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
- Tourism industry knowledge.
- Professional ethics.
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
The%20specs
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Autumn international scores
Saturday, November 24
Italy 3-66 New Zealand
Scotland 14-9 Argentina
England 37-18 Australia
The biog
Favourite films: Casablanca and Lawrence of Arabia
Favourite books: Start with Why by Simon Sinek and Good to be Great by Jim Collins
Favourite dish: Grilled fish
Inspiration: Sheikh Zayed's visionary leadership taught me to embrace new challenges.
EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
World record transfers
1. Kylian Mbappe - to Real Madrid in 2017/18 - €180 million (Dh770.4m - if a deal goes through)
2. Paul Pogba - to Manchester United in 2016/17 - €105m
3. Gareth Bale - to Real Madrid in 2013/14 - €101m
4. Cristiano Ronaldo - to Real Madrid in 2009/10 - €94m
5. Gonzalo Higuain - to Juventus in 2016/17 - €90m
6. Neymar - to Barcelona in 2013/14 - €88.2m
7. Romelu Lukaku - to Manchester United in 2017/18 - €84.7m
8. Luis Suarez - to Barcelona in 2014/15 - €81.72m
9. Angel di Maria - to Manchester United in 2014/15 - €75m
10. James Rodriguez - to Real Madrid in 2014/15 - €75m
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
World Cup League Two
Results
Oman beat Nepal by 18 runs
Oman beat United States by six wickets
Nepal beat United States by 35 runs
Oman beat Nepal by eight wickets
Fixtures
Tuesday, Oman v United States
Wednesday, Nepal v United States
