The world's first 10,000-tonne shrimp shell bio-based material production base will be established in Qianjiang, Hubei

08/28/2025 09:21:41

Recently, the signing ceremony for the project of green and high-value utilization of the entire biomass component of crayfish was held in Qianjiang, Hubei. Qianjiang Agricultural Development Group and Zhongke Rongxin (Suzhou) Biotechnology Co., Ltd. officially reached a cooperation agreement. Both parties will leverage their respective advantages to jointly promote the transformation of shrimp shell resources from low-end utilization to high-end development, achieving a leap in industrial value and upgrading of the regional economy.
The Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences has long been committed to the research on the resource utilization of bulk agricultural waste, successfully breaking through the technical bottleneck of shrimp shell deacetylation, and achieving international leading level in process efficiency. This cooperation will accelerate the engineering and industrialization of this achievement. As the leading party in the industrialization of the project, Rongxin Biotech possesses proprietary intellectual property rights in enzyme reaction-membrane separation technology, and has the engineering capability to efficiently prepare chitosan oligosaccharide. The product is widely used in multiple key green agricultural scenarios such as functional food, green feed, and biopesticides, with high technical maturity and market adaptability, laying a solid foundation for promoting large-scale production.
Through the deep integration of "basic research + engineering technology + industrial capital", both parties will establish the world's first 10,000-ton shrimp shell biobased material production base, setting a benchmark for China's agricultural technology to become self-reliant and strong.
Chitosan oligosaccharide is obtained by deacetylating chitin (mainly derived from the exoskeletons of crustaceans such as shrimp and crab) to produce chitosan, and then further "cutting" the large molecular chitosan into small molecular fragments (usually consisting of 2-20 glucosamine units) with lower polymerization degrees through biological enzymatic hydrolysis or chemical degradation processes. Compared to its precursor chitosan, the most significant characteristic of chitosan oligosaccharide is its significantly improved water solubility. This breakthrough makes it easier for organisms to absorb and utilize, thus exhibiting superior biological activity.
Research indicates that chitosan oligosaccharide possesses various potential health benefits: it can regulate the body's immune function and enhance disease resistance; it also demonstrates potential in promoting wound healing. Therefore, it has been increasingly widely applied in various fields such as health food, functional feed, agriculture (e.g., biopesticides, plant growth regulators), and medical materials (e.g., wound dressings).
In brief, chitosan oligosaccharide is a high-value small molecule product obtained from waste shrimp and crab shells, turning waste into treasure. Due to its good water solubility and diverse biological activities, it has become one of the green biomaterials connecting health, agriculture, and sustainable development. Effectively utilizing shrimp shell by-products and developing utilization pathways and product types based on shrimp shell waste to increase product added value and reduce environmental pollution are of great significance for the development of the shrimp industry.