Marine biomass and seafood-processing by-products offer a largely untapped reservoir of renewable resources for the design of high-value functional and nanostructured materials. Fish residues, crustacean shells, marine oils, and algal biomass contain diverse organic and inorganic compounds, including polyunsaturated fatty acids, collagen, chitin, chitosan, hydroxyapatite, and calcium carbonate, that can be transformed into polymers, nanoparticles, nanofibers, hydrogels, and hybrid composites. These marine-derived materials exhibit unique structural, chemical, and bioactive properties, enabling applications in biomedical devices, sustainable packaging, environmental remediation, catalysis, and energy storage. Integrating these strategies into a circular marine biorefinery framework maximizes resource efficiency, reduces waste, and promotes economic growth. This review highlights valorization pathways, structure–property relationships, and emerging applications of marine biomass, while addressing challenges in scalability, reproducibility, and material performance, emphasizing its potential as a cornerstone for sustainable economic growth through circular bioeconomy.
Abdelkrim El Kadib (Wed,) studied this question.