Bühler Group, known for plant and equipment and related services for processing foods and manufacturing advanced materials is officially opening Insect Technology Center (ITC)
The centre is located in Uzwil, Switzerland, and brings together Bühler’s expertise and one of the best infrastructures to help the industry to further develop. In the ITC, Bühler and its customers can conduct larvae growth trials with various feedstock, develop product samples, evaluate breed solutions, and run training. The ITC, which obtained funding from Switzerland’s Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) due to its contribution to a more sustainable food system, is already in operation.
“The opening of the Insect Technology Center is a major milestone in our journey. Over the last years, we have gained expertise and maturity to serve different customers in the insect industry with the most adequate and reliable solutions. With our new facility, we extend our services and can even better support our customers in installing an industrial insect plant,” said Andreas Baumann, head of market segment, Insect Technology at Bühler.
According to Bühler, at the heart of the centre are two insect growth chambers that can mimic industrial production conditions. These chambers have a sophisticated climate control system and are equipped with numerous sensors that give valuable process insights. Based on the collected data, the right parameters and practices can be determined to finally ensure efficient insect production at an industrial scale. At the ITC, it is possible to work with the two most relevant insect species for industrial production, namely black soldier flies and mealworms.
“A company that wants to build an industrial insect-plant needs to cover several operational aspects. It includes finding the correct feedstock to rear the larvae, making sure that there is a strong and suitable insect strain to grow, defining suitable climate settings in relation to the larvae growth cycle, or getting emission data required for the permitting process,” added Baumann.
“All these topics are essential for a successful insect plant project and can be addressed in Bühler’s new Insect Technology Center. In addition to the services offered to customers, Bühler’s team will run its own tests, thereby constantly improving the technology and services for the insect market.”
Accelerating insect-plant projects
The ITC aims to accelerate large-scale insect-plant initiatives. By using the new test facility, customers might not need to invest in expensive pilot plants to demonstrate technological feasibility. Seeing the industrial insect technology in action makes it tangible, which allows customers to directly envision commercially attractive plant sizes.
“Since the insect growth chambers are mobile, they can be sent to any location, thus making the infrastructure accessible to customers worldwide. In combination with the operational know-how exchange, we see enormous potential to reduce the overall time from the project idea to a successfully performing plant,” opined Baumann about the versatility of the plant.
Contributing to a circular economy
Insects are a healthy and sustainable source of protein for food and feed. In addition, their frass can be used as a fertiliser, contributing to a circular economy model of production. The insect feed protein market is expected to reach half a million metric tons in 2030, according to Bühler. By then, the pet food sector is projected to take 30% and aquaculture 40% of the total insect protein volumes.