I-Corps: Insect bioremediation and biodegradation for solid waste

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a cheaper alternative waste management strategy reducing greenhouse gas emissions as required for compliance with rapidly changing environmental policies. This insect-based treatment process can help waste managers to address emerging contaminants of concern that would conventionally require costly treatment additions and/or renovations to meet upcoming regulatory standards. Processing recovered products from insect biomass can mineralize bioaccumulative and persistent chemicals, e.g., diesel engine combustion byproducts. This method of organic waste treatment can be integrated into mainstream waste treatment trains. While there are direct public benefits, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, this technology may also be used to test the feasibility of using derived insect lipids as an alternative biofuel source, resulting in economic benefits. This I-Corps project is based on the development of technology to change the way organic waste is managed by streamlining biological treatment for decontamination and byproduct recovery. The treatment train utilizes the Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship (QSAR) model and nontarget/suspect-screening analysis techniques to identify contaminant profiles while employing insects to reduce organic waste, recover nutrients (e.g., protein fractions), and sequester organic contaminants. Post production treatment for insect tissue ensures downstream production of high-quality protein feed and renewable biodiesel. This approach in low-cost waste reduction utilizes insect larvae to efficiently process organic waste by feeding on it as a substrate. The resulting insect biomass has been shown to sequester harmful contaminants. The end-products from these processes are: 1) insect lipids, the input material for renewable diesel production, and 2) low-chemical risk protein powder, which is enriched with growth-limiting amino acids for animal feed (i.e., chicken and fish), and 3) organic contaminant treatment, which can off-set the cost of organic waste treatment.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.