I-Corps: Insect bioremediation and biodegradation for solid waste

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是制定一种更便宜的替代废物管理战略，减少温室气体排放，以符合迅速变化的环境政策。这种以昆虫为基础的处理过程可以帮助废物管理人员解决新出现的令人关注的污染物，这些污染物传统上需要昂贵的处理增加和/或翻新，以满足即将到来的监管标准。处理从昆虫生物质中回收的产品可以矿化生物累积和持久性化学物质，例如柴油发动机燃烧副产物。这种有机垃圾处理方法可以融入主流垃圾处理列车。虽然有直接的公共利益，如减少温室气体排放，但这项技术也可能被用来测试将衍生昆虫脂作为替代生物燃料来源的可行性，从而产生经济效益。这个i-Corps项目是基于技术的发展，通过简化净化和副产品回收的生物处理来改变有机废物的管理方式。处理序列利用定量结构活性关系(QSAR)模型和非目标/可疑筛选分析技术来识别污染物分布，同时利用昆虫来减少有机废物、恢复营养物质(例如，蛋白质组分)和隔离有机污染物。昆虫组织的后期处理确保了高质量蛋白饲料和可再生生物柴油的下游生产。这种低成本减少废物的方法利用昆虫幼虫以有机废物为底物来有效地处理有机废物。由此产生的昆虫生物量已被证明可以隔离有害污染物。这些过程的最终产品是：1)昆虫脂，可再生柴油生产的输入材料；2)低化学风险蛋白粉，富含动物饲料(如鸡肉和鱼)的生长限制氨基酸；3)有机污染物处理，可抵消有机废物处理的成本。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.