Insect Pulp Fractionation Without Enzymes for Nutrient Separation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods do not fully utilize insects or worms to convert them into multiple nutrient streams such as proteins, fats, and chitin, and often require costly equipment or reagents, leading to contamination with toxic substances.
Innovation Solution
A method involving physical processing steps to convert fresh black soldier fly larvae into nutrient streams, including reducing their size, heating, and subjecting the pulp to physical separation to obtain fat, aqueous protein, and solid-containing fractions without enzymatic treatment, suitable for continuous operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If enzymatic treatment is used to extract nutrients from insects, then extraction efficiency is improved, but process complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces enzymatic treatment with a mechanical/physical system consisting of a homogenizer followed by a centrifugal separator. The homogenizer mechanically breaks down insect tissue into pulp, and the centrifugal separator uses rotational force to separate fat, protein, and chitin fractions. This mechanical substitution eliminates the need for enzymes while achieving efficient nutrient extraction and separation.
2Manufacturing precision
If multiple separation steps are used to obtain different nutrient streams, then product purity is improved, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the nutrient extraction process into two distinct functional units: a homogenizer for initial breakdown and a centrifugal separator for fractionation. The centrifugal separator further segments the pulp into three distinct streams (fat-containing, aqueous protein, and solid chitin) in a single operational step, achieving high product purity without requiring multiple sequential separation processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The centrifugal separator exploits phase transitions and density differences to separate the homogenized pulp into distinct phases: fat (less dense), aqueous protein (intermediate density), and solid chitin (highest density). This physical phase-based separation achieves high purity fractions simultaneously in one step, avoiding time-consuming sequential processing.
3Ease of manufacture
If conventional extraction methods are used, then equipment cost is reduced, but contamination with toxic substances occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses the natural physical properties of the insect components (density, solubility, phase state) to achieve self-separation through centrifugal force. The fat, protein, and chitin fractions separate automatically based on their inherent characteristics without requiring additional chemical reagents or complex treatment steps, eliminating contamination risks while maintaining equipment simplicity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The method efficiently separates high-quality fat, protein, and chitin-rich streams, suitable for food, feed, and pharmaceutical applications, without contamination or costly equipment, and is scalable.
Implementation Method 1
a) providing fresh black soldier fly larvae, a) reducing the black soldier fly larvae in size, a) obtaining a pulp from black soldier fly larvae
Implementation Method 2
c) subjecting the heated pulp to a physical separation step thereby obtaining a fat fraction, an aqueous protein fraction and a solid-containing fraction
Implementation Method 3
b) heating the pulp to a temperature of 70-100°C
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides a method to convert insects or worms into nutrient streams, such as a fat-containing, an aqueous protein-containing and a solid-containing fraction. The method comprises the steps of: (a) squashing insects or worms thereby obtaining a pulp, wherein the insects or worms are reduced in size, (b) heating the pulp to a temperature of 70-100°C, and (c) subjecting the heated pulp to a physical separation step, preferably decanting and/or centrifuging, with the proviso that the method does not comprise enzymatic treatment of the pulp. The fat-containing fraction comprises at least 80 wt.% insect or worm fat of which at least 40 wt.% are saturated fats. The aqueous protein fraction can be dried to obtain dried protein material, which contains at least 50 wt.% insect or worm protein- derived matter and at most 25 wt.% insect or worm fat based on dry weight, and the protein has a pepsin digestibility of at least 50%. The resulting nutrient streams can be used in food, petfood, feed and pharmaceutical industry.