3D tour Insect Pilot Plant
Click on the below pictures to go to a virtual tour of the Insect Pilot Plant facilities
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EFRO investment project
With the support of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), KU Leuven Campus Geel, Thomas More Kempen and VITO build a pilot infrastructure for breeding, harvesting and processing insects between June 2017 and May 2021.
Insects have the potential to form the basis of a new value chain and can play a key role in the transition to a bio-based economy. Insects can be fed with various organic residual flows and efficiently convert these into useful and high-quality raw materials such as proteins, fats and chitin. These sustainable raw materials can be used in the food and feed sector or can serve as raw materials for bio-based chemicals. The business community sees potential in this, but uncertainties still remain that prevent its immediate application on an industrial scale.
KU Leuven – Campus Geel, Thomas More Kempen and VITO have built up expertise in the breeding and processing of insects in recent years. The projects studying insect breeding, harvesting and processing in Flanders were still on a laboratory scale, while in practice there was a need for expertise on a pilot scale as an intermediate step towards industrial production. The gap in this area was filled by the construction of a flexible and widely applicable pilot installation for the breeding, harvesting and processing of insects. The pilot installation will be used for research and demonstration projects where the accumulated expertise will be transferred to interested companies, the government and the general public.
Insects have the potential to form the basis of a new value chain and can play a key role in the transition to a bio-based economy. Insects can be fed with various organic residual flows and efficiently convert these into useful and high-quality raw materials such as proteins, fats and chitin. These sustainable raw materials can be used in the food and feed sector or can serve as raw materials for bio-based chemicals. The business community sees potential in this, but uncertainties still remain that prevent its immediate application on an industrial scale.
KU Leuven – Campus Geel, Thomas More Kempen and VITO have built up expertise in the breeding and processing of insects in recent years. The projects studying insect breeding, harvesting and processing in Flanders were still on a laboratory scale, while in practice there was a need for expertise on a pilot scale as an intermediate step towards industrial production. The gap in this area was filled by the construction of a flexible and widely applicable pilot installation for the breeding, harvesting and processing of insects. The pilot installation will be used for research and demonstration projects where the accumulated expertise will be transferred to interested companies, the government and the general public.
Project objective |
The aim of the Insect Pilot Plant project was twofold:
- Construction of pilot installations for the upscaling of insect farming and processing as a translation to industrial scale.
- Transfer of the accumulated expertise to various target groups: insect breeders, companies with organic residual flows, food industry, feed industry, chemical and pharmaceutical industry, governments and the general public.
The pilot installation
The pilot installation consists of 2 parts:
- a flexible and widely deployable insect breeding installation on a pilot scale and the installations for harvesting and stabilizing these insects. This installation was built on the innovation campus of KU Leuven and Thomas More Kleinhoefstraat 4 in Geel.
- a pilot-scale biorefinery installation for the isolation of bio-based chemicals for industrial applications at the VITO Boertang 200 site in Mol.
Transfer of expertise
The transfer of the accumulated expertise by the project partners is achieved by:
- setting up a sounding board group consisting of representatives of the various target groups;
- organizing training through the existing structures of KU Leuven and Thomas More. The courses can be tailor-made.
Project financing
The Insect Pilot Plant investment project is financed by the following partners: European Regional Development Fund ERDF (272 200€), Hermes Fund (85 000€), Province of Antwerp (81 600€), Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (34 000€), KU Leuven, Thomas More , VITO, Boerenbond, Biobest, Renewi, HIKempen foundation. Together they invest € 680 500.
