iBIO - Insect Bioreactor for Industrial Insect Waste Valorisation

我们目前的农业食品体系需要进行重大改革，以满足提供足够营养的食物的需求，以支持健康的人、健康的环境和健康的地球。为了实现这一目标，未来研究发展的一个关键领域是大幅减少浪费的替代管理系统。在农场一级，对牲畜粪便和污泥的替代、高效和循环废物管理解决方案的需求日益增长。2016年，仅英国就生产了约8300万吨牲畜粪便，这些粪便在历史上一直被用作肥料。然而，随着牲畜数量的增加，不能在土地上使用的多余泥浆和粪便现在成为废物。此外，在2021年，环境署发布了关于粪便传播的新指南，具体要求规划有机材料（如牲畜粪便和泥浆）对作物的营养应用，以保护河流系统免受氮和磷污染。这项新的指导方针对畜牧场的泥浆和粪便管理具有重大的经济和运营影响，因此强调了探索替代废物增值解决方案的紧迫性。以昆虫为基础的泥浆增值可以为牲畜养殖场提供符合这些新环境法规的解决方案，同时提供创新的经济机会，如有机肥料和生物燃料。昆虫废物增值目前是一项前沿技术，需要基础设施建设和相关的研究活动，以实现其工业化，并实现其对农业、粮食生产和环境管理的巨大变革潜力。此外，除了制定适当的法规和认证外，在浆液和粪肥上饲养昆虫的健全协议，以及适当的安全档案、标准和最佳实践对于支持工业规模昆虫生物反应器技术的发展至关重要。我们将开发一个定制的研究级昆虫生物反应器（iBIO），以位于利兹大学（UoL）研究农场的家畜创新卓越中心（CIEL）国家养猪中心为基础。目前正在开发UoL研究农场，作为支持实现净零排放和再生农业的可持续方法的技术整合的测试平台，包括废物增值和循环经济系统。iBIO将提供示范规模的昆虫饲养环境，以建立有力的科学证据，支持对各种牲畜废物流进行评估。这将是英国首个同类研究级系统，因此将使我们站在可持续农业研究的前沿，这是BBSRC的一个关键战略优先领域。它还将使我们能够推进其他重要领域的研究，包括减少牲畜排放、农场循环经济模式的全系统方法、最大限度地减少河流系统的污染、牲畜废物的增值和昆虫生物技术的进步。iBIO将支持UoL成为英国及其他地区可持续农业系统研究和创新领域公认的领导者的雄心。

Our current agri-food system needs to undergo substantial transformation to meet the demands for providing sufficiently nutritious food to support healthy people, a healthy environment, and a healthy planet. A key area for future research development to this aim is alternative management systems to drastically reduce waste. There is a growing demand for alternative, efficient and circular waste management solutions for livestock manures and slurries at farm level. In 2016, an estimated 83 million tonnes of livestock manure were produced in the UK alone, which historically has been used on the land as a fertiliser. However, with livestock numbers increasing, excess slurry and manure that cannot be used on the land is now a waste product. Furthermore, in 2021, the Environment Agency issued new guidance on manure spreading which specifically requires the planning of nutrient applications of organic material such as livestock manures and slurries to crops to protect riverine systems from nitrogen and phosphorous pollution. This new guidance has a significant economic and operational impact on slurry and manure management on livestock farms, and therefore highlights the urgency to explore alternative waste valorisation solutions. Insect-based slurry valorisation could provide livestock farms with solutions to comply with these new environmental regulations, whilst providing innovative economic opportunities such as organic fertilisers and biofuels. Currently a frontier technology, insect waste valorisation requires infrastructure development and associated research activities for its industrialisation and to realise its enormous potential to be transformative to farming, food production and environmental stewardship. Furthermore, robust protocols for raising insects on slurries and manures, alongside appropriate safety dossiers, standards and best practice are essential to support the development of industrial-scale insect bioreactor technology, in addition to the development of appropriate regulation and certification. We will develop a bespoke research-grade insect bioreactor (iBIO) to be based at the Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock (CIEL) National Pig Centre, situated on the University of Leeds (UoL) Research Farm. The UoL Research Farm is currently being developed as a testbed for the integration of technologies that support sustainable approaches to net zero and regenerative agriculture, including waste valorisation and circular economy systems. iBIO will provide insect rearing environments at demonstrator scale to build robust scientific evidence that supports valorisation of a wide range of livestock waste streams. This would be the first research-grade system of its kind in the UK, and as such would allow us to be at the forefront of sustainable agriculture research, a key strategic priority area for the BBSRC. It will also enable us to advance research in other significant areas, including the reduction of livestock emissions, whole system approaches to on-farm circular economy models, minimising pollution of riverine systems, valorisation of livestock waste, and advancement of insect biotechnology. The iBIO will support UoL's ambitions to become the recognised leader in sustainable agri-systems research and innovation in the UK and beyond.