A circular economy framework based on organic wastes upcycling for biodiesel production from hermetia illucens

The present waste management practices have adverse environmental impacts at the same time costly. Approximately, 80 of the Malaysian municipal wastes including organic wastes are usual disposed into landfills. Hence, transformation organic wastes not only providing economic and environmental benefits but has given waste a value. This study focused on synthesis of biodiesel from H. illucens pre-pupae fed with fruit waste and food waste. The objective was to evaluate interactions between the variables including catalyst loading, reaction time versus fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) yield (wt ), temperature and methanol to sample mass ratio. The response surface methodology (RSM) was used to investigate the bioconversion optimization process. Optimal biodiesel yield based on fruit waste achieved was 96.15 at 51ºC; 8.3:1 methanol: mass ratio; 253 min and 15.1 catalyst. Furthermore, the optimal yield obtained from the second set of optimization using lipids of pre-pupae derived from food waste was achieved at 94.63 . The optimum conditions for reaction temperature was 71°C, with methanol to mass ratio of 6.8:1, at reaction time of 254 min and catalyst loading of 7.0 v/v. The properties of FAME produced were in accordance with EN 14214 and ASTM 6751 biodiesel standards. © 2021, Chulalongkorn University, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts. All rights reserved.