China finds shrimp shells highly effective in biodiesel production
Chinese scientists claimed that shrimp shells may have an important role to play in improving biodiesel production efficiency.
Scientists from Hua Zhong Agriculture University in the Wuhan province of China experimented with chitin, the main component in prawn shells, and found that it helped to convert organic oils into biodiesel at a rate of 89 percent in three hours.
Zheng Xinsheng, one of the scientists involved in the research, said prawn shells can achieve as much speed and efficiency as traditional catalysts in biodiesel production without environment pollution and resource waste.
Biodiesel is designed to replace carbon-heavy diesel oil and can be made from sunflower or rapeseed oils.
To covert these organic oils faster and under less extreme heat, a liquid catalyst, such as sodium hydroxide, is usually used.
Meanwhile, the university's scientists found that a small amount of chitin became very porous after carbonisation, making it easier for a catalyst to attach itself and do its work.
Traditional catalysts have to be neutralised and washed after a reaction, creating large amounts of waste water. However, prawn shells remain solid and they can be reused up to 10 times in the production process. Furthermore, the shells are biodegradable so they will not harm the environment when eventually discarded.