Crab and Cockle Shells as Catalysts for the Preparation of Methyl Esters from Low Free Fatty Acid Chicken Fat

• Published in: Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society 2011-02, Vol.88 (2), p.283-288
• Main Authors: Boey, Peng-Lim, Maniam, Gaanty Pragas, Hamid, Shafida Abd, Ali, Dafaalla Mohamed Hag
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agriculture; Animal productions; Biodiesel; Biodiesel fuels; Biological and medical sciences; Biomaterials; Biotechnology; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Chicken fat; Chickens; Cockle shell; Cold; Crab shell; Decapoda; Esters; Fat industries; Food industries; Food Science; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Methyl ester; Moisture content; Molecular weight; Oils & fats; Original Paper; Poultry; Scanning electron microscopy; Standard deviation; Terrestrial animal productions; Transesterification; Vertebrates; Waste materials; X-ray diffraction
• ISSN: 0003-021X; 1558-9331
• DOI: 10.1007/s11746-010-1660-4

The use of waste oils/fats, as well as catalysts from waste materials, for producing biodiesel via transesterification have been of recent interest. As such, in the present work, the transesterification of chicken fat using crab and cockle shells as a catalyst was attempted. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and electron dispersive X-ray (EDX) results show that, upon thermal activation, both shells transformed into CaO, the active ingredient that catalyzes the reaction. In addition, the catalytic performance of individual shells as well as the combination of both shells in various ratios was similar. Under the optimal reaction conditions of 4.9 wt% catalyst amount and 0.55:1 methanol to oil mass ratio, methyl esters conversion above 98% was achieved in 3 h. The chicken fat methyl esters that were produced were found to meet several key specifications of biodiesel based on EN 14214 and ASTM D6751 test procedures.