Shrimp Shell Catalyst for Biodiesel Production

A high-performance and environmentally friendly shrimp shell catalyst for biodiesel production was prepared by incomplete carbonization of shrimp shell, loading KF on the resultant, and activation at a desired temperature. The dependence of catalytic activity on preparation conditions such as carbonization temperature, loading amount of KF, and activation temperature was investigated. The shrimp shell catalyst was characterized by the Hammett indicator method, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential thermal analysis (DTA), scanning electron microscope (SEM), N2 adsorption−desorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), element analyzer, and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR). The catalytic performance was evaluated by the transesterification of rapeseed oil with methanol. The results indicated that the optimum preparation conditions were carbonization at 450 °C, loading KF of 25 wt %, and activation at 250 °C. The conversion reached 89.1% using the shrimp ...