Catalyst development from waste shells for clean biodiesel production

Umping, Nonny (2024) Catalyst development from waste shells for clean biodiesel production. Project Report. Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Melaka, Malaysia. (Submitted)

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Abstract

Biodiesel as renewable and alternative fuel is growing at a rapid rate because of the variety of benefits that it offers, including being a fuel derived from a renewable source, being non-toxic, and environmental friendly. These qualities make it the most suitable fuel to replace petroleum diesel, which produces dangerous emissions that are harmful to both human beings and the environment. The aim of this study is to produce heterogeneous or solid catalysts from waste razor clam and saucer scallop shell that contains calcium carbonate (CaCO3) which can be decomposed into calcium oxide (CaO) at high temperature through calcination process, which involved heating the material to a temperature of 800°C, 900℃ and 1000°C and used as catalyst for the production of biodiesel. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) combined with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods were employed to observe their characteristic. The shells of the saucer scallop and the razor clam are the waste shells that are utilized. The synthesis of this biodiesel made use of the transesterification technique, in which waste cooking oil (WCO) was combined with alcohol and catalyst before being heated at a specific temperature and for a specified duration. Due to its lower cost compared to ethanol, methanol was selected as the preferred alcohol for this research. This project had the potential to contribute to pollution prevention by collecting waste for its purpose. Upon the completion of this research, the catalysts was successfully developed from waste razor clam shell and saucer scallop shell in which the catalyst characterization done shows that both of this shells contain calcium carbonate (CaCO3) before calcined and calcium oxide (CaO) after calcined. The biodiesel produced was meet the requirements of both ASTM D6751 and EN 14214.

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