Resource Recovery from Chitosan and Ragworms' Bioremediation of Waste

Waste shellfish skeletons can be used to coagulate pollutants even in dissolved form in aquaculture wastewater (aquaculture being the area of water where fish farming occurs). This coagulated pollutant aquaculture wastewater can then hypothetically be consumed by polychaetes - a group of marine annelids which have demonstrated an ability to consume pollutants from industrial wastewater streams. Polychaetes usually feed on particulate matter hence the need for a coagulating product to coagulate dissolved pollutants into particulate form to achieve as great a bioremediation of wastewater as possible. These polychaetes will then hypothetically produce clean water where the polychaetes may be extracted as they have an extra beneficial use as a fish feed which can be used in the fish farming industry. Therefore, a completely circular bioremediation of aquaculture wastewater method is proposed. The waste shellfish skeletons are used in the form of a saleable product called chitosan which is produced by treating the chitin skills of crustaceans with an alkaline substance to create an effective coagulation product.

Through various methods, the project aims to investigate the chitosan coagulation potential in aquaculture wastewater, investigate polychaetes potential to digest chitosan coagulated effluents and investigate the excretory components, investigate polychaetes bioremediation with and without chitosan and finally, investigate polychaetes capacity to consume a chitosan coagulated freshwater sludge.