Potential of Fish Wastes as Feedstock for Biodiesel

Fish wastes are the discarded parts include the internal organs, viscera, bones, trimmings, tails, fins and skin of fishes. These discarded portions while disposing of cause major environmental damage. Usually, the discarded parts of fishes are ground into fishmeal for livestock and aquaculture feed. This study was undertaken to explore biodiesel production based on the fatty acids composition. The fish waste sample was collected from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah fish market. The sample was drained for excess water and oven-dried at 55°C - 60°C for complete dryness. Crude oils were extracted in petroleum ether in Soxhlet extraction method. Methylation of the extracted crude fish oil was carried out to yield fatty acid methyl esters (FAME). The FAME was analyzed by GCMS system and the reference to NIST library was used to identify the fatty acids present in the FAME. A total of 21 fatty acids were identified that composed of 53.53% saturated fatty acids (SFA), 22.1% monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) and 24.37% polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). The important fatty acids [myristic acid (C14:0), palmitic acid (C16:0), palmitoleic acid (C16:1), oleic acid (C18:1), linoleic acid (C18:2), linolenic acid (C18:3), docosapentaenoic acid (C22:5) and docosahexaenoic acid (C22:6)] found in fish oil indicated the potentiality of biodiesel production if fish waste was stocked. The highest percentage of SFA causes higher viscosity, cetane number and density and hence these properties of biodiesel produced from the fish waste are expected to be high. Therefore, the fish waste has high potential of fatty acid in FAME to produce biodiesel through transesterification process.