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Developing relatively cheap and widely available resources for heterogeneous solid catalyst synthesis is a promising approach for biodiesel fuel industry. Seashell which is essentially calcium carbonate can be used as a basic support for transesterification heterogeneous catalysts. In the present investigation, the alcoholysis of waste frying oil has been carried out using seashell-supported K3 PO4 as solid catalyst. Presenter Essam Oun Al-Zaini, PhD student, UNSW

Developing relatively cheap and widely available resources for heterogeneous solid catalyst synthesis is a promising approach for biodiesel fuel industry. Seashell which is essentially calcium carbonate can be used as a basic support for transesterification heterogeneous catalysts. In the present investigation, the alcoholysis of waste frying oil has been carried out using seashell-supported K₃PO₄ as solid catalyst. The rationale for this derives from the fact that waste frying oil contains both long-chain free fatty acids (FFA) and triglycerides (TG) which are catalyzed on acid and basic sites respectively. Thus, the K₃PO₄/seashell catalyst may serve the dual role of promoting both esterification and transesterification reactions. The catalyst was synthesized following a dipping impregnation of pre-crushed and calcined seashell in an aqueous solution of K₃PO₄. Samples with different percentage loadings of K₃PO₄ (5 to 25 wt%) were prepared.