Grant: Idea to Innovation

Prince Edward Island is the largest producer of mussels and is exported worldwide generating significant revenue to rural communities. This however has been challenged by the infestation of tunicates. Tunicates is a marine invertebrates which grows quickly to disrupt the growth of the mussels affecting the yield and the quality. PEI mussel growers came up with an expensive way of tackling the issues that led to an increased cost of mussel production by 15-25%. Understanding that the tunicates could be a source for high quality cellulose nanocrystals (CNC), the applicant previously has developed a process for the conversion of tunicates to CNC and studied its morphology and physicochemical properties. The tunicates-CNC posses unique characteristics such as higher crystallinity, higher aspect ratio, and higher modulus compared to state-of-the-art plant-CNC currently available in the market and thus, better suited for reinforcement application in lightweight materials. The hybrid i.e. Tunicate-CNC and Plant-CNC, has shown to have better mechanical and physiochemical properties, opening new area of application for Tunicate-CNC where Plant-CNC is currently used. While the properties of T-CNC outperform the P-CNC, the scalable production of T-CNC doesn't exist. The proposed research is focused on developing a scalable prototype for continuous production of CNC from tunicates. The research will integrate intermediate steps previously validated at laboratory scale and optimize the key process variables for continuous production. The success of the project will be threefold: a) It will provide an alternative revenue generation for the mussel growers b) Develop new product with unique properties that compliments with the leadership taken by Canada in the area of cellulose nanocrystals c) Opportunities for new business in the area of processing and application of tunicates-CNC.