Black soldier fly larvae as an alternative feed source and agro-waste disposal route – A life cycle perspective

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Documents

  • Fulltext

    Final published version, 3.19 MB, PDF document

Life cycle assessment (LCA) was applied to evaluate black soldier fly production using different diets, including typical Belgian agro-residues (Brussels sprout stems, endive roots and solid fraction pig manure). The LCA compared insect-based feed with soybean meal and fishmeal, and composting through insects versus conventional treatments. Underlying LCA data were derived through feeding experiments. To determine the sensitivity of the results, we tested the effect of alternative energy sources and dietary components. Non-residue insect feed and energy use contributed greatly to overall environmental impacts. Insect protein had greater impacts than protein from soybean meal or fishmeal due to the high energy consumption and, in some cases, agro-product demands. These should be areas of focus to make European insect production more sustainable. In the case of Brussels sprout stems and endive roots, conventional treatments outperformed composting by insects. Between industrial versus insect pig manure composting, the results varied greatly by energy source and impact category.

Original languageEnglish
Article number106917
JournalResources, Conservation and Recycling
Volume192
Number of pages9
ISSN0921-3449
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s)

    Research areas

  • Circular economy, Hermetia illucens, Insect composting, Insect protein, LCA

Number of downloads are based on statistics from Google Scholar and www.ku.dk


No data available

ID: 357728519