Shrimp shells

Food and fuel meet again; shrimp shells increase the efficiency of bio-fuel production.

The conventional method of turning soybean or canola oil into valuable fuels requires a single-use catalyst like sodium hydroxide that needs to be neutralized by lots of water. Despite making a “greener” fuel than gasoline, all this polluted water isn’t doing anybody any favours.

Scientists in Wuhan, China have done what they always knew makes a dish better- they have added shrimp. Not only is shrimp a cleaner catalyst, but it can be reused, and is much more efficient at rendering plant oil into bio-fuel.

The shrimp shells are composed mainly of chitin. That’s significant, because it’s a material that when heated, becomes very porous. That makes the process much faster. In only three hours, 89 per cent of the batch can been successfully converted.

The researchers at Hua Zhong Agriculture University heated the shrimp shells beforehand, making a framework material that is then mixed with potassium fluoride. The goal was to find an environmentally friendly way to make an environmentally friendly fuel.

Certainly the scientists were happy with the result. By adding shrimp shells to the process, there is less waste and pollution, less energy required due to its efficiency and no wasted water to neutralize. Additionally, there is less cost associated with this method, as the shrimp shell catalyst can be used again, and shrimp are cheap to acquire. The results are a sustainable process and a cleaner fuel.

That’s a deliciously good solution for all.