McGill University Researchers Produce Biofuel from Seafood Waste

Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is a technique that converts wet biomass into a coal-like material and has recently been used to treat complex waste streams, a mixture of lignocellulosic and non-lignocellulosic biomass, such as sewage. However, there is limited knowledge on the effectiveness of HTC on purely non-lignocellulosic waste such as seafood waste.

Scientists led by Shrikalaa Kannan of the McGill University in Canada developed a strategy to use pretreated seafood waste for HTC to produce hydrochar and biocrude liquor. Hydrochar and biocrude liquor were then generated from hydrolyzed fish and shrimp waste by microwave hydrothermal carbonization (MHTC).

The study marks the first time that MHTC was successfully done to produce valuable products from pure non-lignocellulosic waste like seafood waste. This would pave the way for effective use of other moisture-rich non-lignocellulosic industrial wastes for biofuel production.