Scrambled Eggs or How Eggshells Become Phosphates

Abstract

As part of the training activities planned for the Chemical Engineering degree, in 2016, a group of students from the Chemical Engineering Laboratory course was challenged to face a plausible reuse of discarded eggshells. A straightforward methodology to synthesize phosphates such as calcium pyrophosphate or fluoroapatite among others was developed using commercial phosphoric acid and discarded eggshells as starting materials. Throughout the development of this activity, topics such as recycling and reuse of discarded materials, guided-inquiry instruction, self-learning, and soft-skills development were successfully covered. The strategy proposed in this work encourages students to make connections between science and life and provides an excellent linkage between chemical research and recycling without neglecting those basics required by the official curriculum.