State-of-the-Art of Eggshell Waste in Materials Science: Recent Advances in Catalysis, Pharmaceutical Applications, and Mechanochemistry

Abstract

Eggshell waste is among the most abundant waste materials coming from food processing technologies. Despite the unique properties that both its components (eggshell, ES, and eggshell membrane, ESM) possess, it is very often discarded without further use. This review article aims to summarize the recent reports utilizing eggshell waste for very diverse purposes, stressing the need to use a mechanochemical approach to broaden its applications. The most studied field with regards to the potential use of eggshell waste is catalysis. Upon proper treatment, it can be used for turning waste oils into biodiesel and moreover, the catalytic effect of eggshell-based material in organic synthesis is also very beneficial. In inorganic chemistry, the eggshell membrane is very often used as a templating agent for nanoparticles production. Such composites are suitable for application in photocatalysis. These bionanocomposites are also capable of heavy metal ions reduction and can be also used for the ozonation process. The eggshell and its membrane are applicable in electrochemistry as well. Due to the high protein content and the presence of functional groups on the surface, ESM can be easily converted to a high-performance electrode material. Finally, both ES and ESM are suitable for medical applications, as the former can be used as an inexpensive Ca2+ source for the development of medications, particles for drug delivery, organic matrix/mineral nanocomposites as potential tissue scaffolds, food supplements and the latter for the treatment of joint diseases, in reparative medicine and vascular graft producing. For the majority of the above-mentioned applications, the pretreatment of the eggshell waste is necessary. Among other options, the mechanochemical pretreatment has found an inevitable place. Since the publication of the last review paper devoted to the mechanochemical treatment of eggshell waste, a few new works have appeared, which are reviewed here to underline the sustainable character of the proposed methodology. The mechanochemical treatment of eggshell is capable of producing the nanoscale material which can be further used for bioceramics synthesis, dehalogenation processes, wastewater treatment, preparation of hydrophobic filters, lithium-ion batteries, dental materials, and in the building industry as cement.

Research on High- and Low-Temperature Characteristics of Bitumen Blended with Waste Eggshell Powder

“…At present, a substantial amount of research is being conducted on eggshell applications, and there have been relatively important results in many aspects [33][34][35][36][37][38]. A novel composite nanomaterial, eggshell/Ag, can effectively promote the catalytic degradation of organics and has substantial application prospects in the resolution of problems encountered in microbial treatment of sewage [39].…”

Recent advances in green processing technologies for valorisation of eggshell waste for sustainable construction materials

“…The eggshell can be air or oven-dried for one to five days or 105–110 °C for 24 h depending on the intended use [ 53 , 55 , 56 ]. In the first approach, the dried eggshell can be calcined with the reported firing temperature in the range 600–1000 °C, during which a calcite (CaCO 3 ) is decomposed to CaO and CO 2 [ 57 ], [ 58 ] as shown in Eq. (1) .…”

Biotechnological Applications of Eggshell: Recent Advances

“…In addition to aforementioned patent-based survey of various ES biotechnological applications, recent research activities continue to be focused on developing high-value products from ES. Recent advances of ES in catalysis and mechanochemistry are summarized in a review paper ( Baláž et al, 2021 ). To improve the poor bioavailability of calcium ( Ahmed et al, 2019a ), ES can be processed into nano-scale particles that exhibit higher water absorption capability and lower zeta potential, compared to micro-scale ES powder ( El-Shibiny et al, 2018 ).…”