The biodegradeable shrimp shells are the waste product from the food processing industry - made from chitin, a protein with a porous structure.
Linguo Yang and Xinsheng Zheng of Hua Zhong Agriculture University and Aiqing Zhang of HuBei Province South-Central University for Nationalities, produced the catalyst by partially carbonising shrimp shell at a temperature of 450°C.
According to a report in The Chemical Engineer the optimum loading of potassium fluoride (KF) was 25 weight percentage and the optimum activation temperature was 250°C.
The scientists used the shrimp shell catalyst to catalyse the transesterification of rapeseed oil with methanol.
They found that the highest conversion of 89.1 per cent was achieved at a temperature of 65°C, with 2.5 weight percentage of catalyst, a methanol:rapeseed oil ratio of 9:1 and a reaction time of three hours, TCE says.
The catalytic activity is thought to come from activation sites formed when KF reacts with partially-carbonised shrimp shell during the activation process.
Shrimp Shells for Biodiesel
CHINA - Researchers in China are using shrimp shells to form a cheap and effective catalyst to produce biodiesel.
