The textile industry is an important economic activity for developing countries, however, the negative impact on water bodies is high, due to the frequent discharge of dyes into the environment. 

Just in Guatemala, according to an Environmental Audit in the Textile Industry in Quetzaltenango, considering the question: What treatment is given to dyeing process wastewater? 40% of companies did not want to respond, 10% stated that they incinerate the waste, which causes air pollution, 30% use the municipal drains for the discharge of the waste without any treatment and 20% use remediation methods such as sedimentation tanks. This situation is alarming because the bad management of textile wastewater has caused the continuous contamination of water bodies such as the Samala River, Guacalate River, and Michatoya River, among others.

By now, the treatment technologies available, such as reverse osmosis, electrochemistry or chemical press are expensive and difficult to operate. Leaving the small producers and rural textile artisans in developing countries with no options.

These producers are located in Guatemala, México, Bangladesh, India, and many other developing countries where the textile production of big brands is located

The crustacean's exoskeleton represents the inedible portion of
seafood.

Approximately 40% of the total weight of a shrimp is waste.

.

The seafood industry constantly discards a huge amount of shrimp shells to municipal landfills or even to rivers, causing an environmental risk.

ONE SOLUTION: SHELL BIOREFINERY

Shrimp shells have a very interesting chemical composition, and by using this waste and chemistry we can obtain chitosan.

A material that has all the characteristics of an ideal adsorbent for textile dyes and flocculant for wastewater.

The cationic nature of the chitosan polymer makes it useful in adsorbing dyes and flocculating organic matter from the water.