Insect meal production workshop

Processed products: dried insects

Grinding and packaging of finished products 

- Packaging workshop -
 

The residual material made up of larval waste (leftover mix, droppings and moults) called FRASS, is packaged at the end of the process line. This material, for example, can be used as a soil fertilizer.

This step involves a processing and packaging workshop for finished products. Some of the insects recovered in the main process are dried and then crushed. This finished product is often used for the animal nutrition industry.
A hammer mill allows the crushing of dried insects. It is connected, via a gearbox, to a VFlow® vacuum pneumatic transfer system for supplying the filling stations with bulk bags and sacks.

The crushed insects are transferred using a VFlow® 01 vacuum transfer system, equipped with a side channel vacuum pump. This system is a continuous process (dryer, crusher, packaging) with a flow rate of 100 kg / hr. After the initial processing step, insect proteins are in the form of either a nutrient-rich powder or oil, used for animal and human nutrition. The droppings are intended for the formulation of fertilizers for soil nutrition.

A full bore PE 175 rotary valve is installed at the outlet of the VFlow® 01, which allows the continuous extraction and discharge of the conveyed material.

A gravity metal detector, equipped with an automatic ejector, can detect metal scrap and provide a clean product free of foreign metal bodies. Therefore, quality control of the system if provided, guaranteeing a high quality end product:

• The non-conforming product is evacuated by the automatic ejector to the sack packaging station.
• The compliant product follows the main transfer to the bulk bag packaging station.

A PLC program is designed to operate in "bag conditioning" mode. The ejector redirection function can be reversed: the compliant product is packaged in sacks, the non-compliant product in bulk bags.

The packaging in bulk bags is carried out via a weighed FlowMatic 02® filling station comprising:

• A support structure
• A mobile apron with lifting fork
• A pneumatic cylinder for tensioning the bulk bag during filling
• A double-walled filling head with inflating seal for total containment
• A weighing set in legal metrology

The whole station is mounted on load cells.

Packaging in sacks is conducted on a filling station with an inflating seal and integrated weighing scale (also legal metrology).