Method for converting food waste and other biological waste into invertebrate feed

#The present invention relates to methods for converting biological waste, organic waste, food waste and other biologically-derived waste materials into invertebrate feed.

#The world's needs for animal-derived protein products (such as fish meal, soymeal and peanut meal) in animal feed and aquaculture applications are growing rapidly. The needs for fish meal are outstripping the ocean's ability to regenerate the forage fish that are harvested to manufacture fish meal. Precipitous and unsustainable decline in ocean fish stocks put strain on aquaculture and poultry culture. Vegetal sources of proteins, such as soy meal and peanut meal, are also in limited supply because they are costly to produce and also because they are usable as human food. Growing vegetal biomass (such as soy and peanuts) for the purpose of feeding livestock is not sustainable when these materials can be used to feed humans directly.

#Insect-based biomass can be utilized in animal feeds as a substitute for animal-derived proteins (such as the proteins in fish meal) or plant-derived proteins (such as the proteins in soy meal or peanut meal). One possible approach for insect rearing is to utilize pre- and post-consumer food waste and other biological wastes as feedstock. Cultured invertebrates, such as earthworms, meal worms, shrimps, prawns or crayfish, crickets and fly larvae, that can be used to feed humans or animals, or to make fertilizers, can be fed with food waste and other biological wastes or derivatives of food waste and other biological wastes.

#The present invention is described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views. It is to be understood that in some instances, various aspects of the invention may be shown exaggerated, enlarged, exploded, or incomplete to facilitate the understanding of the invention.

#FIG. 1. Flow chart of one embodiment of the method for converting food waste and other biological wastes to invertebrate feed. The main steps of this method are: (1) pre-treating, (2) performing fermentation, and (3) post-treating the fermentation product to produce two end products: fermentation leachate and invertebrate feed.

#FIG. 2. Diagram of an example of a facility that can be used to carry out the disclosed method. The diagram shows an embodiment of the method being carried out in the facility. Fermentable biological, organic, food or other biologically-derived waste is fragmented, treated to reduce microbial contaminants, optionally amended with components or agents for optimizing fermentation, inoculated with microorganisms and mixed. Fermentation occurs in a bioreactor, and during fermentation, the leachate is circulated as needed using, e.g., a liquid pump and monitored for pH, ammonium, temperature and salinity using chemistry probes. The probes are used to monitor the evolution of the fermentation and help make decisions about duration of fermentation and other amendments to make for improving fermentation. The tube with the screw beneath the fermenter is an auger used to pull fermented solids out of the system. The leachate can, if necessary, be amended to control the progression of the fermentation. Two materials are produced: fermentation leachate and solid (or “wet”) fermentate. The fermentation leachate is removed for other uses. The solid fermentate can be fed to invertebrates directly or dewatered (e.g., using a screw press), ground (e.g., using a grinder, dewatered or dried (e.g., in a dryer) and milled (e.g., in a mill) to produce shelf-stable invertebrate feed used to feed invertebrates. The bottom half of the diagram shows examples of other possible incubator configurations shown as cross-sections. The 4-armed profiles depicted at the bottom of some of the incubator configurations represent cross-sections through auger devices used to remove materials at the bottom of the fermenter.

#Methods are provided for converting biological waste, including food waste, organic waste and other types of biologically-derived waste, into shelf-stable and health-safe invertebrate feed. In one embodiment, the method comprises: pre-treating waste by fragmenting, reducing microbial contaminants, inoculating with microorganisms and mixing. In another embodiment, pre-treating waste comprises amending the waste with components or agents that optimize fermentation (“fermentation-optimizing agents”). Fermentation takes place in a bioreactor and produces a fermentation product comprising or consisting of two components: fermentation leachate and solid fermentate.

#After fermentation, the solid fermentate is separated from the fermentation leachate. The solid fermentate is ground, dewatered and milled. The solid fermentate can be used as invertebrate feed with or without further processing.

#As used herein, biological waste includes organic waste, food waste or other biologically-derived waste.