title: Shell Biorefinery: Dream or Reality?
abstract: Shell biorefinery, referring to the fractionation of crustacean shells into their major components and the transformation of each component into value-added chemicals and materials, has attracted growing attention in recent years. Since the large quantities of waste shells remain underexploited, their valorization can potentially bring both ecological and economic benefits. This Review provides an overview of the current status of shell biorefinery. It first describes the structural features of crustacean shells, including their composition and their interactions. Then, various fractionation methods for the shells are introduced. The last section is dedicated to the valorization of chitin and its derivatives for chemicals, porous carbon materials and functional polymers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 4, Singapore, 117585, Singapore.
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 4, Singapore, 117585, Singapore.
authors.forename: Huiying
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 4, Singapore, 117585, Singapore. ning.yan@nus.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1877-9206
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yan
keywords: biomass; carbon materials; chitin; polymers; sustainable chemistry