CELS

CELS

Limpets are one of the most popular marine molluscs in the Macaronesian region. However, only a small percentage of limpets corresponds to the edible part, while the remaining, namely their shells, are considered waste and sent to landfills.

The CELS project aims to address the under-usage of this valuable marine resource by creating new value chains to reuse this waste, potential sources of biomaterials for other industries, following a circular economy approach.

To achieve this goal, the project intends, through the resolution of legal, logistic and food safety aspects related to the collection of shell waste from restaurants, establish a network of potential waste providers and the protocol for its proper handling. Secondly, the technical aspects of the mineral extraction process will be addressed resulting in the installation of the required equipment for processing the shells, and carrying out initial tests for the extraction of their minerals depending on the requirements of potential customers. Finally, the extractable materials will be analysed for yield and purity of the final product and a scalable business plan established.