PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY FOR INSECTS LARVAE

WHY PROCESSING THE INSECTS

The world global population is expected to exceed 10 billion by 2050, therefore demand for new protein animal feed resources is necessary. More than 30% of food is wasted and it can be used as a feed for insects. Fish, poultry and farm animals can be fed with high nutritional value raw material produced from insects. Alternative protein source can provide solutions to food scarcity problems. The insect processing plant extracts high-quality proteins and lipids from black soldier flies, mealworms and crickets. They have very fast growing cycle, which mean big capabilities of production.

WHAT IS THE LIFE CYCLE OF BLACK SOLDIER FLY LARVAE (BSFL)

The black soldier fly life cycle is in total 45 days.  
- eggs 3-5 days
- young larvae 5-6 days
- larva 6-7 days
- prepupa 6-7 days
- pupa 9-14 days
- adult fly 4-8 days

LARVAE HIGH QUALITY PROTEIN SOURCES

Edible insects are an alternative food source. They contain energy rich in micro nutrients, fats and are an excellent source of minerals for poultry, fish, cattle, pigs and even for human consumption. Food waste can serve as valuable fodder for the larvae. They feed on waste from agricultural, waste from supermarkets, breweries, food production, restaurants, etc. The feed before being fed to the larvae is often modified to optimize the nutritional value and maximize the growth of the insects. 

DRY AND WET RENDERING

Two different methods can be used to process for industrial scale. Dry rendering, which is not efficient. Balance between water evaporation and energy consumption is not good. Raw material is indirectly heated in the thermal cooker under high temperature and long time.  TG-Machines recommend to use wet rendering insect protein processing which is characterized by low energy consumption and high quality of end product. The heating material in the wet method has much better nutritional properties, better content of proteins and lipid fraction than in the dry system.

EDIBLE INDUSTRIAL INSECT TECHNOLOGY

- Raw material pre-cutting 
- Pre-hating of the raw material 
- Separation in three phase decanter: solids, stick water and fats
- Centrifugal separation - purification of lipids
- Concentration of stick water in waste heat evaporator
- Steam drying 
- Meal processing equipment

APPLICATIONS

Fertilizer - chitin as a functional ingredient ensures slow release of nutrients (soil improver, soil amendment, biogas production, crop production)
Protein meal - perfect amino acid profile with very good digestibility (broiler feed, dog food, feed for fish, shrimp feed)
Insect low fat - digestible energy with lauric acid (feed for piglets, detergents, chicken feed, cosmetics)

HIGH PROTEIN ALTERNATIVE SOURCE

Please contact us to get more information about wet rendering system for insect protein and lipids. Our equipment can help increase your production whether you are just starting the business or you are running already a plant. We will help you to find the best solution for your process or make a full scope of optimization.