Imagine using tiny insects as living factories to eat our leftover food waste. These larvae turn trash into a rich biological soup that can be processed into biodegradable plastics. It is like a recycling plant where the workers are flies and the end product is a green alternative to petroleum plastic.
Bioplastics are currently too expensive for mass market use, and food waste in landfills creates potent methane emissions and health hazards.
Three biorefineries: one for larvae cultivation, one for PHA production from lipids/proteins, and one for chitosan from shells.
If you are a packaging company dealing with high costs of biodegradable materials — this project developed a way to produce PHA and chitosan using fly larvae that reduces raw material inputs and pre-treatment costs.
If you are a waste manager dealing with methane emissions from landfills — this project developed a food waste to larvae conversion plant that reduces carbon emissions compared to composting.
If you are a medical firm dealing with the need for biocompatible polymers — this project developed a larvae shell biorefinery to produce chitosan biopolymers for biomedical applications.
The project aims to cut down PHA production costs significantly compared to existing technologies by using inexpensive, renewable larvae as a feedstock.
The project is currently demonstrating 3 proof of principle biorefineries, including a food waste to larvae conversion plant, to prove the concept works before full scaling.
Based on available project data, the project is in the demonstration phase; specific licensing terms are not yet listed.
It uses a larvae cultivation bioreactor specifically designed to treat and reduce mixed food waste, avoiding complex pre-treatment costs.
The project period runs from 2023-04-01 to 2026-06-30.
The consortium consists of 7 partners across 4 countries (ES, IE, IT, PT). It has a healthy industrial mix with a 29% industry ratio, including 3 SMEs, which suggests a strong focus on translating the research into commercial applications.
Contact the Board of the College of the Holy & Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin
Contact us to explore licensing opportunities for larvae-based PHA production.
