An Update on BSF and the Waste Management Market
It’s Not Just About the Protein
Dr. Thomas Farrugia – CEO¹ ,Nicola Gardner MCIM – Creative Marketing & Media Manager2
1. Beta Bugs Ltd
2. Beta Bugs Ltd
About Beta Bugs – Beta Bugs Limited, headquartered in Edinburgh, UK, is an insect genetics company that develops and distributes Black Soldier Fly breeds, using selective breeding, to the insect farming sector. The company’s mission is to increase the output of insect farmers through the use of its improved Black Soldier Fly genetics, HiPer-Fly®, which it supplies from its egg production facility, The Multiplier®. This enables the insect farming industry to produce a protein that is competitive on price point against existing feed ingredients.
Apart from protein production, Black Soldier Fly (BSF) producers can also generate revenues through two other business models: WASTE PROCESSING AND GENERATION OF NOVEL PRODUCTS.
By transforming organic waste into valuable animal feedstock where revenues from sales of this potential animal feed can cover parts of the waste collection costs. As the world’s population increases, the economy is confronted with new challenges in solid waste management meaning that numerous cities have increased their efforts to find finding sustainable solutions over the past decade.
1 – Waste processing using Black Soldier Fly
Waste processing using BSF is focused on diverting mixed municipal waste from landfill and instead rearing larvae on it. However, depending on the sources, mixed municipal waste can be highly variable in nutritional content and quality, which in turn means it is much harder for producers to develop a consistent output of feed ingredients. This means that that economics are instead focused around receiving a tipping fee on a per tonne basis, much in the same way as a traditional landfill operates.
As a result, these producers are incentivised to process the largest amounts of waste. Because the larval output quality can be highly variable, the larvae may find less use in animal feed, which requires a highly consistent protein profile, and instead are likely to be sold dried/live for enrichment or used in non-agricultural purposes such as production of biomaterials like crude feedstock materials (hydrolyzed proteins, fats, biofuels etc) or chitin (Singh & Kumari, 2019).
In addition to processing municipal waste, BSF larvae can be used to handle problematic waste streams. This means that materials such as anaerobic digestate, sludge biomass and animal manures – of which there are large quantities – could be processed using larvae.
However, it’s worth noting that these materials are best blended with higher nutrition materials, resulting in better performance of the larvae and overall reduction in the waste biomass. Typically, the processing of these materials is determined by the regulatory frameworks that state what the larvae can be reared on, so do check your local legislation.
2- Biomaterials from BSF
Chitin is a biomaterial found in the exoskeletons of the BSF larvae and pupal cases. Each larva will shed multiple times through their different life stages within the feed. Chitin is of commercial interest due to its high percentage of nitrogen (6.9%) compared to synthetically substituted cellulose (1.25%). This makes chitin a useful agent for products in medicine, cosmetics, food wrappers and even biotechnology (Luparelli, Leni et al., 2022)
In addition to chitin, black soldier fly biomass is another material that will eventually be converted into valuable products. Black soldier fly biomass arises when black soldier flies are bred on a large scale to produce eggs. This leaves behind large numbers of dead flies. This biomass has the potential to be an important renewable source of pigments such as melanin, which finds uses in bio-friendly electronics and other biomaterials, along with pigments such as ommochrome. (Ushakova et al., 2019).
3- Frass (BSF By-Product) Market
As the BSFL break down the feed substrate they release the Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium within the decaying feed and absorb as much of the nutrients they convert the feedstock into a by-product called frass. Unique to BSF larvae, it has tremendous potential as a natural, sustainable fertiliser/soil amendment and source of plant nutrition, as well as use in animal feed applications.
It is worth noting that being able to produce good frass is largely down to having great husbandry during the rearing process – the feed, which starts out wet, needs to gradually dry out during the rearing process, so that by the end the larvae can be easily separated from the frass.
As frass is the residual substrate left behind after removing all the larvae, it is available once they have finished feeding and the prepupae start to develop. It largely consists of exoskeletons, larvae castings (digested feed) and residual feed and is packed full of micro and macro nutrients. The frass is a universal, chemical free, nutrient rich fertiliser that can be used on farms, gardens, house plants, soils, flowers and vegetables. BSF frass is found to have much higher nutrient levels than worm castings and also contain proteins that other fertilisers do not have, like the chitin.
BSF Market Streams
A closer look at waste processing using BSF
There are key attributes that make BSF-technology an attractive treatment option for organic waste:
- Efficient waste reduction. BSF technology allows rapid reduction of the mass of wet waste, for example, a waste reduction up to 50% on wet weight basis have been demonstrated in a shorter period compared to conventional composting methods (Amrul et al., 2022). If applied locally, costs for waste transport and space requirements for landfills can thus be reduced drastically. It could furthermore reduce the risk for open dumps that often appear in low and middle income countries. While the material is reduced by the larvae, most nutrients contained in the organic waste (apart from nitrogen that is partially evaporated) remain in the residues, which can be seen as a concentrated organic fertiliser, simplifying the recycling of plant nutrients from the organic waste back to arable land (Matheka et al., 2022). In addition, if factored into the farm build, the water from the feedstock can also be collected, providing a water source for use in agriculture or for hydration of dryer feedstocks.
- Resource recovery. At the same time as efficiently reducing waste, the biomass is being converted into high quality animal protein, an important resource for local chicken and fish farmers – though the use of this protein will depend on the regulatory frameworks where the farm is operating.
- Low risk of carrying and transmitting diseases. BSFL do not accumulate mycotoxins or pesticides (Amrul et al., 2022)
- Environmental benefits. The process can reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with traditional waste management practices (Ferronato, Paoli et al., 2023)
- Versatility in waste processing. BSF larvae can process a wide variety of organic waste types, including, food waste, agro-industrial by-products, chicken and dairy manure. This versatility makes BSF technology adaptable to different waste streams and local conditions (Amrul et al., 2022).
- Economic viability. BSF technology contributes to economic viability and competitiveness in environmental management and agriculture. The production of valuable by-products (animal feed and organic fertiliser) from waste creates new revenue streams, potentially offsetting treatment costs and improving the overall economics of waste management systems (Matheka et al., 2022).
Besides their beneficial aspects, both, the BSF-driven centralised large-scale protein production and the decentralised waste treatment BSF-technologies are facing obstacles when it comes to handling organic waste (Table 1).
Table 1 – BSF Centralised Vs Decentralised Advantages and Disadvantages
Therefore, a business model which combines the advantages of the industrial BSF systems with the flexibility and waste treatment potential of the decentralised BSF facilities could contribute both to local economic growth and wide-ranging organic waste management.
Providing an edge over other waste processing technologies
Another key driver in the uptake of BSF production by waste processors is the food waste hierarchy (Table 2). Simply put, any food waste (also referred to as surplus) is not considered waste if it is fed to humans or animals. This provides retailers and food manufacturers a way to reduce their waste footprint.
Typically, this surplus would be given to charity for humans or used as animal feed for cattle, pigs and other livestock. However, this is only possible with certain feedstocks that keep, and the remainder is often put into anaerobic digestion, which then processes the feedstocks into biogas for energy production.
Table 2 – Food Waste Hierarchy
Because insects like the BSF can eat a wide range of substrates, retailers and food manufacturers are now able to divert more of their food waste into animals, reducing their overall waste footprint.
For example, Arla Food Ingredients, one of Europe’s largest dairy cooperatives, was able to reduce the amount of food it wastes by 16%, diverting it into Enorm Biofactory, who are Northern Europe’s largest insect production facility, and who have the capacity to produce over 10,000 tonnes of insect meal a year.
“The food waste at our Danmark Protein facility is calculated on the basis of the volume of by-products sold to biogas customers. Additionally, there is a loss of protein, fat and lactose when cleaning the processing equipment, which goes to the effluent plant,” Møller details.
“A large amount of organic matter including lactose, fat and protein is now going to Enorm instead of being used for biogas production, reducing the amount of food waste by an estimated 16%.”
Møller highlights that the initiative is not just about meeting immediate needs but also about following the trends of the broader food industry’s approach to sustainability and upcycling practices.” Sønke Møller, senior sales developer at Arla Foods Ingredients.
Because of this edge and the increasing emphasis on sustainability placed by retail and food production duction corporates, an increasing number of food waste processors are now offering waste processing using BSF.
Does this mean there will be less waste diverted into AD? In the longer term, yes, but there have also been reports that insect frass can be fed into anaerobic digestors and used to produce biogas as well – creating a truly circular economy where food waste is used to produce protein and energy.
To read the full Beta Buzz #5 – ‘Beyond Protein’ issue click here
If you have any questions about Beta Bugs or require any further information on our products, please do get in touch at info@betabugs.uk, outlining your query and one of the Beta Bugs team members will get back to you.
Best regards,
Beta Bugs Limited
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