Synthesis and Characterization of Calcium Chloride Derived from Chicken Eggshell Waste

The use of chicken eggs in the food industry and households produces eggshell waste that can pollute the environment if not managed properly. Eggshells contain 90.48% CaCO₃, and therefore have high potential to be utilized as an alternative raw material for CaCl₂ production. XRF analysis was conducted to determine the elemental composition of Ca, which ranged from 37.9% to 38.8%, while Cl, ranged from 60.3% to 61.0%. These values are close to the theoretical composition of CaCl₂ (Ca 36.11%; Cl 63.89%). Furthermore, XRD analysis was also employed to identify the crystal peaks and phases of calcium chloride. Based on XRD analysis, sharp peaks were observed at angles of 2θ = 29.39°, 32.01°, 38.94°, and 47.62°. These peaks correspond to the standard pattern of COD No. 9008985, indicating the formation of the CaCl₂ crystalline phase. The purity of the synthesized sample was determined using match software and reached 80.4%. The optimal results were obtained with a variable of 40 grams of eggshell and 2.5 M HCl, yielding a CaCl₂ product of 36.76 grams. These results demonstrates that chicken eggshell waste can be converted into calcium chloride.