Zoem – Processing
OPTIMIZING BSF PRODUCTS
Black soldier fly processing offers many options. Your final processing solution will depend on one hand if you are starting with a pilot or that you’re expanding into a commercial BSF farm.
As Insect Engineers we acknowledge the essence of being able to supply turnkey BSF farms. As we know it’s hard for a customer to obtain all the right knowledge. So we want to make sure that you as a customer can rely on the thorough knowledge and experience of Insect Engineers. On this page we want to explain the different possibilities you have when it comes to processing.
BSF PRODUCTS
There can be a wide variation of BSF end products. The following overview:
• Fresh larvae
• Dried larvae
• BSF insect meal
• BSF insect oil
• BSF insect paste
• Chitosan
• Frass
BLACK SOLDIER FLY LARVAE SIEVING
After harvesting the ZOEM rooms the black soldier fly larvae need to be separated from the remaining substrate (frass). On a commercial scale this is done with multiple step sieving. The first sieve has to obtain a maximum result and at some customers would even manage a 100% result. Most people with experience do know that often sieving can be a headache and it’s not fixed with one way of sieving. For that reason
Insect Engineers developed this multiple step sieving. Sieving step two and three are build in to have more guarantee on a proper product. For a small scale BSF farm this solution would be overkill but on a commercial BSF farm this should be the standard.
BSF MEAL + BSF OIL
After sieving you have different directions you can take. One direction is producing insect meal and insect oil. In most situations we first dry the larvae and afterwards the dried larvae are processed in a BSF screw press to make insect meal and insect oil. We can deliver this on pilot and large scale. Picture shows pilot scale setup.
INSECT PASTE
Most often the feed milling companies require a dry product. When it comes to pet food it can be different. They are often looking for a product with a certain moist content. For that reason, making insect paste from the BSF is ideal. As you don’t need any drying, which saves cost. You can directly grind the fresh larvae into a paste. That BSF paste can be sold to pet food feed mills.
INSECT FRASS
Frass is a great fertilizer for agricultural grounds and plants. We could talk for hours about this great topic. You want to know more, look at this fact sheet from IPIFF. https://ipiff.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Nov-29-2021-IPIFF-fact-sheet-on-insect-frass-final.pdf
INSECT FRASS DRYING
How can you dry and/or pasteurize frass in an efficient and economical way? This can be done by combining technology with the natural benefits of composting.
The Insect Engineers frass drying tunnel works with the following steps:
- With pipes in the ground air will be blown through the frass.
- The air will bring oxygen in the frass, and this will start a composting reaction in the frass.
- Temperature will raise to 60 to 75 degrees Celsius.
- Because the temperature raises more water will be evaporated.
- The frass dries.