Shrimp in the tank in Mississippi?

From The Mississippi Business Journal------- June 25, 2008

STARKVILLE — Scientists at Mississippi State University (MSU) are working to turn shrimp processing waste into a diesel-like fuel.

"The main purpose of this research project is to find a higher value for the shrimp waste," said Todd French, an assistant professor at MSU.

Seafood-based biodiesel would help processors eliminate some waste disposal costs, which have been estimated at approximately $145,000 per producer. As a building block for fuel, the waste also would bring additional income streams. It is also hoped that it would help alleviate the U.S.'s dependence on foreign oil.

Scientists already know that seafood waste contains the materials necessary to produce oil, French said. The main ingredient is chitin, a carbohydrate found in shrimp, crab and lobster shells. Researchers will take the seafood processing waste, pre-treat it with an acid and add it to vats of bacteria, yeast and fungi, a mixture French refers to as "our bugs." The microorganisms eat the chitin, convert it into fat and store it. The fat can be harvested as oil.

"The oil our microorganisms are making is similar to canola oil or corn oil," French said.

The process already is underway with synthetic seafood ingredients at MSU. The real seafood waste will arrive next month from Gollott's Seafood in Biloxi.

Oil companies can take the oil produced from the seafood waste and generate diesel fuel, French said. The biofuel likely would be mixed at 5% or 20% biofuel to 95% or 80% diesel.

Funding for the biofuel research project comes from the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium.