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.

Chocolate fuel…What a waste!

While it’s true that chocolate gives you energy, soon it could be giving your car energy as well. Yes, you read correctly: chocolate waste can be made into fuel. There are several ways in which this could be done. One way is to have bacteria convert the chocolate into burnable hydrogen gas; the other is to turn it into biodiesel.

Why would anyone want to do that, you ask? Well, because big chocolate companies like Cadburys throw out hundreds and thousands of deformed and expired chocolate every year.

In December 2007, Andy Pag and John Grimshaw journeyed 4500 miles in a chocolate-powered vehicle. Made from 8818 pounds of chocolate misshapes—the equivalent of 80,000 chocolate bars—the chocolate biodiesel powered them from England to Timbuktu.

The chocolate-derived ethanol was blended with vegetable oil, and the Britons used 396 gallons to complete their journey. Not only was the expedition carbon neutral, it was carbon negative. Ultimately, they used less carbon on their voyage than they would have if they’d stayed at home. The fuel is made from cocoa butter but sadly, does not look or smell like chocolate.

Other innovations racing onto the scene include a car with a steering wheel made out of carrots, wing mirrors constructed in potato starch core and brake pads utilizing cashew nut shells. Sound like something that would have been made on Gilligan’s Island? Well, it’s just the most recent Formula 3 race car screeching onto the racetrack.

The chocolate- and vegetable-fueled vehicle is on a speedy road to environmental sustainability.

Biofuel sources are getting a little fishy

If fish lived on land, which country would they live in? Finland.

Jokes aside, Finland is looking at ways to turn fish waste products into fuel. Biofuel. Finland’s Technical Research Centre and a Vietnamese seafood producer recently launched a three-year project to turn fish waste into biodiesel.

It turns out fish waste is a good feedstock for biofuel. Companies and local governments in Canada, Alaska, Honduras and other places have been experimenting with fish-based biodiesel for years. A few commercial enterprises are even using and selling it profitably. And it may come as no surprise to those who remember that before petroleum, whale oil was used for light and heat. So using waste oil for fuel is resourceful since one kilogram of fish waste equals one litre of biodiesel.

Fish waste, if not processed immediately, degrades rapidly and quickly loses its value. Dumped into the sea in high concentrations, the waste can also disrupt marine ecosystems, so finding sustainable uses for it is just plain smart.

Most of the activity in fish biodiesel has been centered in Alaska and Canada, where isolated coastal cities provide fish oil which is the most abundant feedstock for biodiesel. But in a market which consumes 5 million litres of diesel daily, the Vietnamese are quickly seeing the value of casting this particular line.

So if fish keep their money in the river bank, these days, inventive companies are banking their money with fish waste.