Utilization of waste seashells and Camelina sativa oil for biodiesel synthesis

Abstract

The seafood industry produces over 100 million pounds of seashell waste every year. With landfill space diminishing quickly, ways to recycle waste materials are becoming more sought for. Herein, we utilized waste mussel, clam and oyster shells as heterogeneous catalysts for the transesterification of Camelina sativa oil as a feedstock into biodiesel. Camelina sativa oil provides a reliable solution for biodiesel production because it has high tolerance of cold weather, drought, low-fertility soils and contains approximately 40% oil content. The catalysts from waste seashells were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. High biodiesel yields were achieved at a 12:1 (alcohol:oil) molar ratio with 1 wt.% waste seashell catalysts in 2 h at 65°C. Biodiesel was analyzed by 1H NMR and FTIR spectroscopy and the fuel properties of the biodiesel produced from Camelina sativa oil and waste seashells were compared with American Society for Testing and Materials standards.

Keywords

• Energy
• biodiesel
• waste seashells
• heterogeneous catalysts
• Camelina oil