As requested by Elisabeth, here is an update. There is nothing exciting to share with at this moment! We had an unusually long cold winter. The fund was released in January 2015. We are still working on to get used to the rearing of the fly and its larvae so that we can build a community of flies from where we get a continuous supply of eggs and larvae for further experiment. Once we get a continuous supply of young larvae, and other equipment are in place to conduct a scientific work, we will start working with human feces. Right now the larvae are being fed with food waste. We hope to let you know something exciting by August 2015.

Dear all,

I have asked Sudipta Sarkar from Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee to give us an update on the project on black soldier fly larvae grown on humand faeces (funded by the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge India funding scheme of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation).

Here is what he has provided:

Title of grant: An Enterprise-Driven High Quality Community Toilet System Sustaining on Commercial Values Generated by Black Soldier Fly Larvae Grown on Human Feces

Name of lead organization: Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (www.iitr.ernet.in/)

• Primary contact at lead organization: Dr Sudipta Sarkar
• Grantee location: Roorkee, India
• Developing country where the research is being or will be tested: India
• Start and end date: January 2015-June 2016
• Grant type: Reinvent the Toilet Challenge India *
• Funding for this research currently ongoing (yes/no): Not yet started

Short description of the project:
It is a proof-of-concept project to demonstrate that black soldier fly (BSF) larvae can be used to convert human feces in to valuable end products. We are looking at finding out parameters such as growth kinetics, effect of environmental variables, etc. which shall be helpful in designing and developing prototype processes and pilot reactors for future deployment.

Goal(s):
a) Establishing a proof that black fly soldier fly can be used effectively in Indian conditions for transforming the human feces into biomass by its larvae, and
b) Identifying and finding the market value of commercially important end products that can be recovered from the mature BSF larvae.

Objectives:
a) To observe and determine the effect of type of substrates containing human faeces and different environmental conditions on the life-cycle of black soldier fly in and out of the substrates;
b) To study and optimize the process of artificial mating of the flies and mass hatching of eggs under different controlled conditions;
c) To study the kinetics of the growth of BSFL and their waste conversion rate on different types of substrate; this includes human faeces with varied proportions of organic waste;
d) To prepare Indian and Global technology landscape analysis report for the use of black soldier fly larvae for the treatment of human waste;
e) To perform market research for the use of larvae by-products

Additional information:

• Research or implementation partners: Freshroom Lifesciences, Chennai, India
• Links, further readings – results to date: NIL
• Current state of affairs: Work not yet Started
• Biggest successes so far: None
• Main challenges / frustration: None at this moment

Greetings,
Elisabeth


* The total amount of the RTTC India grant is $1,068,908, which is spread over six research projects, one of them is this one (see also: www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quic...s/2013/05/OPP1055862)

Further information about the RTTC India grant scheme is also available here on the forum:
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/139-gr...nda-gates-foundation

Joe: Could be the chitin from the exuvia - the empty pupal exoskeleton. BSF larvae go for human excreta like it is going out of fashion, for as long as temperatures are, lets say, above 30C. Unfortunately I found this out by trial and error... In my case, error! Fortunately my experiments are on a me, myself and I basis and outdoors, thus no harm done and the remains of my last contribution have been slowly turned into worm feed as winter temperatures kick in and larvae activity fade out. I am still very enthusiastic about the use of BSF larvae and vermicomposting for organic waste composting and also for fecal management. But for the time being my experiments shall be just with fruit and veg scraps!

We have received the following information from Dr. Sudipta Sarkar, who is part of the team at Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee which is a co-collaborator on this project. Dr Sarkar has asked us to post this statement here:

In this proof-of-concept project, we aim to develop and validate a novel waste treatment system where human fecal matter and other bodily waste materials shall be consumed by Black Soldier Fly (BSF) larvae, mature prepupae of which can be harvested to extract valuable products. Specifically, with the award funding we look forward to achieving the following objectives in next one year:
a) kinetics and extent of growth of BSF larvae on different types of substrates (mixed with human faeces) and under different environmental conditions to find out their effect on its life-cycle in and out of the substrates and also on their waste conversion rate.
b) the extent of artificial mating and mass hatching of eggs under different controlled conditions; and,
c) research on the potential market for the valuable by-products that can be produced from the harvested larvae.
Our team at IIT Roorkee shall also work in the future to design and develop better toilets which shall provide high degree of comfort for the users, a feature largely absent in the individual and community toilets in rural India. We believe that if people are provided with a better option such as a good-quality toilet, they would never go for open defecation. To this end, cost of installation and upkeep of high-quality community toilets can be sustained only if they are supported by a sustainable business model where all the stakeholders shall get benefitted. A social enterprise-driven system fits perfectly well here, earning profit from recovering market values from the liquid and solid excreta. The mature BSF larvae are rich sources of fat, protein and chitin, all of which can be processed to make products of high market value. My team at IIT Roorkee shall also perform research on the downstream processing of the harvested BSF larvae for optimum generation of values.

This is a proof-of-concept step, based on which there will be a much larger project leading to prototype development and implementation. BSF larvae are being tried for stabilization of municipal organic/ food waste in many places around the globe. In India, a small firm named Freshrooms Life Sciences located in Chennai is commercially producing chicken and animal feed derived from BSF larvae grown over food waste. In the current project, IIT Roorkee has decided to make the firm their partner.

I am interested in what the 'products of high market value' from the larvae might be.

Got to where the link would have taken me. I reckon purge and clense with a post faeces feedstock/substrte and then some time in an oven should render the grubs fairly harmless... Sure can't be worse then the antibiotics injected into factory farm animals.

Quite right, Elisabeth. I was a bit hasty with my remark. Truth is I am a total newbie on BSF and amazed at the voraciousness of the grubs. Thanks for the link, but it gave a page error - which is a pity because I enjoy studying from this forum. I suppose mature grubs going off to pupate would most probably carry a bit of what they have been eating on their coats...! Perhaps the trick would be to somehow transfer the grubs, whilst they are still hungry, into a feedstock that would purge and cleanse them! I was thinking about using the white meat from green coconuts. You see, here in Rio a lot of green coconut is sold for the water along the beach front. Nowadays the coconuts, for some strange reason, are no longer opened for us to eat the pulp. So the garbage bins hve loads of coconut with no water but with the meaty stuff inside. If I was to get someone to open the coconuts and scrape the insidea I would have a very interesting feedstock... As soon as I get my act together I shall experiment. Meanwhile I have found an abundant supply of larvae in rotten jack fruit and they get fed kitchen scraps and ummm processed food.. Come to think of it, jack fruit would clean the larvae, it has a sticky gum together with the pulp (polpa inPortuguese).. I haven't harvested any mature larvae yet and shall not be popping any directly into my mouth when I do (thanks for the tip)! This is definitely new fontier stuff for the old latrine fly!

+++++

Note by moderator (EvM): Sorry about that, I fixed the broken link now.

I just found this video from the Reinvent the Toilet Fair in Delhi online where at minute 2:31 you will see the Indian researcher (Sudipta Sarka from IIT Roorkee) talk about his planned research on black soldier fly larvae which they will feed on faeces from urine-diverting toilets:



@ Billy: yes, it's a no brainer that black solider fly larvae love human faeces. But the devil is in the detail: how many of the faecal pathogens could end up in or on the fly larvae and how should the fly larvae to be processed to make it into a safe feed for e.g. fish? And what about the pharmaceutical residues in the faeces. And what would be optimum feeding regimes etc. There are still plenty of open research questions here (let along the legal questions, see forum.susana.org/forum/categories/91-pro...d-for-farmed-animals )

Greetings,
Elisabeth

Its a no brainer! BSF larvae devour human faeces!

As I mentioned elsewhere, at the recent Delhi toilet fair, six awardees were announced of Gates Foundation prize funding including one focussing on black soldier fly larvae (forum.susana.org/forum/categories/139-in...nda-gates-foundation):

Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee in collaboration with Fresh Rooms Life Sciences: The project will develop a single household container that will cultivate Black Soldier Fly larvae, using human faeces, which can be processed into valuable products. The project will also demonstrate the market potential for these products. This is a proof of concept grant.

If I find more details of what they're proposing, I will add it here.

(I have moved the post from a different thread as this one seems more relevant - in case anyone is wondering)