DDGs as Feedstock for Insect-Based Feed

DAVENPORT, Neb. (DTN) -- Glenn Courtright thinks bugs can make the perfect meal. A meal for animals, that is.

Courtright, founder and president of EnviroFlight, LLC in Yellow Springs, Ohio, plans to use bugs and their co-products to make cost-effective, nutritious and environmentally safe feed for a variety of fish, crustaceans and other animals. In turn, he plans to feed his bugs another feedstock that livestock producers are already familiar with: distillers grains.

Courtright's project began in 2009 with a biodiesel project. He pulled the plug on the project when he realized that he would not have enough fats and oils to produce the biodiesel without pulling it away from foodstuffs. That decision began a search for what was available that could produce fats and oils effectively. Enzymes were expensive and difficult to use, and algae presented a problem in production in terms of surface area.

Finally, he came across the idea of using insects, most of which are 40-50% fat. While Courtright began to produce insects as a means to generate oil, he eventually retooled his business to use the insects to produce feeds for animals and aquaculture.

"I realized it was more important to feed the world than to fuel cars," he said. "We are able to produce a clean and consistent source of proteins and fats with no waste."

The insects that Courtright uses are black soldier flies (hermetia illucens). These insects are ideal because they don't spread pathogens, they are native to the U.S., and the larvae grow quickly and are quite large.

The insect production involves a multi-stage system, he said. Eggs are collected and hatched out in a specially designed nursery. The newly hatched larvae are fed a specially-formulated diet multiple times through the day. They are fed a certain amount of feed based on their size, until they research their desired weight and are transferred to the production bioreactor.

Upon entering the production bioreactor, the larvae are fed a diet of wet distillers grains, wet brewers grains, and other clean food-quality inputs. No table scraps, garbage, manure or post-consumer waste are used.

Actually the larvae are used as a transformation agent. They are voracious eaters, he said, and convert distillers grains into frass (excrement). The larvae are able to access the available nutrients in the distillers grains and leave behind fibrous materials and nitrogen in the frass.

The frass has two uses, Courtright said. Because of the 5% nitrogen left in the frass, it makes a good fertilizer for lawns, leafy green, mulch or as an additive for potting soil. It also serves as a feed ingredient for tilapia, fresh water prawns, or shrimp.

Courtright said that the frass content from larvae that were fed distillers grains and brewers grains is between 33% and 35% protein and about 3% to 5% fat.

Also, the insects leave behind high levels of nitrogen.

"Our process is able to stabilize or sequester the nitrogen the insects excrete," he said. "Also, it comes out dry, so there is no ammonia."

Courtright said that in the course of 12 days, in a 3-foot-by-5-foot area, he can produce close to 250 pounds of nutrients in both insects and frass.

The larvae themselves are harvested and are used as a high protein, high fat feed ingredient for carnivorous, cold-water fish such as rainbow trout, perch, bass and bluegill. The larvae are cooked, dried and ground into meal and are composed of about 38% to 40% protein, 46% to 49% fat, 4% fiber, 4.5% carbs, 5.4% ash and less than 1% phosphorus.

One of the remarkable aspects of the whole process is that there is zero waste in the production process, Courtright said. Everything that is produced -- the frass and the insects themselves -- is used.

The insects are used as a replacement for fish meal in aquaculture and poultry diets, as well as for crustaceans such as freshwater prawns and shrimp. By using insect meal, producers can eliminate costly fish meal or animal byproducts such as poultry byproducts, porcine meal, etc.

The cost savings over fish meal alone is a huge selling point for his products.

"Fish meal is really expensive," he said, "Plus there is a massive demand for fishmeal and only a finite amount of it. We produce a cost-effective replacement that is able to directly replace fish meal."

Courtright said the company is currently in the middle of a long feed trial with yellow perch, using an insect-based diet, blended with soy, binders, vitamins and minerals.

He is also working to get approval from the Food and Drug Administration and the Association of American Feed Control Officials, although he is able to sell his products in the state of Ohio.

Although his priority is first fish and crustaceans, Courtright is also working on formulating his insect-based feed for poultry and swine.

He already has a large pet food distributor on his customer list, as well as several zoos. Zoos are currently using the insect feed for birds, reptiles, marsupials and larger insects. He is also worked with another zoo that wants to try using the insect meal for anteaters, aardvarks and other insectivores.

Courtright also plans to develop some specialty fish foods. He is already the largest provider of feed for freshwater prawns in Ohio.

EnviroFlight has a research and development facility and plans for an expansion are underway. Before the expansion, Courtright said he wants to make sure all the testing is completed.

"I don't want to go to market too fast," he said.

He is working with a few customers to put a facility in the regional area, as well as talking to some international customers to license his technology.

He is also looking at a variety of feedstocks. He said that distillers grains help him achieve good, uniform growth, however, he is also looking at other feedstocks from pre-consumer food manufacturing waste such as cooked chicken, breading, and potatoes.

For more information, visit the Enviroflight website at http://www.enviroflight.net.

Cheryl Anderson can be reached at cheryl.anderson@telventdtn.com.

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