Production of Biodiesel and High-Protein Feed from Fish Processing Wastes Using In Situ Transesterification

Preparation of biodiesel using in situ transesterification has been extensively conducted for agricultural, microbial and algal biomass, while few works have been performed using aquatic animal tissue. In this work, fish processing wastes were collected to perform in situ transesterification using grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus) biomass as a representative with which to optimize the reaction conditions. Under the optimum condition, the highest biodiesel purity reached up to 100% for sea bass wastes, which is higher than the 96.5% specified in the EN 14214-2008. The in situ method proposed here has the potential to save significant costs in biodiesel production compared to conventional methods, which usually require high-cost pretreatment of the raw materials. Additionally, the waste residue byproduct produced has a high protein content, and therefore the potential to be used for high-protein feed. This study is expected to inspire new strategies to prepare biodiesel and high-protein feed simultaneously from aquatic animal biomass using the novel in situ transesterification.