Elsevier

Biomass and Bioenergy

Volume 165, October 2022, 106586
Biomass and Bioenergy

Mixed microalgae-food waste cake for feeding of Hermetia illucens larvae in characterizing the produced biodiesel

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2022.106586Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The potential use of black soldier fly's larvae in industrial Entomology.

  • Conversion of organic waste into a renewable energy source by using black soldier fly's larvae.

  • The incorporation of microalgae with the insect's provisions to enhance the biodiesel quality.

  • Application of antioxidants decreases the oxidant's levels of the biodiesel.

Abstract

The industrial use of insects, their products, interactions, or activities has been known as industrial entomology. The current study focused on evaluating the effect of mixing the organic food waste with its half percentage of microalgae on the biodiesel production and characterization. The black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) were reared on the organic waste (OW) (fruits, vegetables, and kitchen) only and OW mixed with microalgae, Chlorella vulgaris. Additionally, the levels of oxidants and antioxidants in the biodiesel, after the antioxidants incorporation (ascorbic acid, α-tocopherol, and catechin), were evaluated. The BSFLBD was produced from lipid extraction of BSFL biomass by chloroform/methanol mixture, followed by acid catalyzed esterification and alkaline catalyzed transesterification. The biodiesel yield from the larvae fed on mixed OW-microalgae for 14 days was enhanced by 1.4 folds than the yield of OW group. The unsaturated oleic acid has the most dominant pattern in the fatty acid profile of BSFBD, even in different cases. Lauric (12:0) and myristic (14:0) acids constitute the majority of the methyl ester component of the biodiesel, with amounts of 25.6 and 7.1 for larvae fed on OW, and 25.9 and 7.7 for those fed on OW-microalgae. Following the antioxidants addition, the oxidant's concentration decreased in the biodiesel especially in the insects fed on mixed OW-microalgae. The microalgae added to the organic food waste enhanced the biodiesel quality and quantity of BSFL biomass. Also, the introduction of antioxidants didn't only improve the efficiency of the biodiesel, but also helped in the management of the stress parameters.

Introduction

Recently Industrial Entomology has gained a vast popularity, granting the opportunity of accelerated implementation of sustainable goals and achievements [1]. The mandated action of energy conversion and conservation strategies is considered a master key of promising eco-solutions. Humans are depending on fossil fuels since the beginning of the industrial revolution and till the present day. The reliance on consuming fossil fuel accelerated the pace of development on the earth and caused a rapid technological shift, nevertheless, it resulted in dangerous climate changes and deleterious mitigation actions [2]. Furthermore, the accumulation of organic waste was considered a main challenge to achieve the sustainability of all living organisms [3], where the contamination may go through the food chain or food web, and could inhibit the cell function of all living organisms [[4], [5], [6]]. Additionally, the organic waste is supposed to reach nearly 1.3 billion tones with the cumulative increase in the human population to 10.5 billion by 2050 [7]. The organic waste recycling, based on the industrial entomology concept, would reduce the environmental pollution and could maximize the waste zero value [8]. Besides that, the renewable paradigm transforming percentages are expected to reach 90, 33, and 50% in petroleum, chemicals, and pharmaceutical products, respectively, by 2023 [9].

One of the promising industrial Entomology products is the biofuel. It is considered a promising technology in energy conversion sector [10]. Moreover, it can improve the quality of life and achieve sustainability through decreasing the greenhouse effect and improving the social aspects [11]. Therefore, the choice of feedstock type in the biodiesel production process is very essential to solve the cross-cutting problems, manage the natural resources, and achieve the social, economic, and/or environmental aspects [12]. Previous studies approved those insects and microalga could be used as energy transformation bioreactors, where both sources have the ability to convert the organic waste into biodiesel feedstock [13,14].

Hermetia illucens (Linnaeus, 1758) (Diptera: Stratiomyidae) is a widespread insect in tropical and temperate regions [15]. The previous literature considered it as a promising alternative source of biodiesel [16,17], as its essential biomolecules especially lipid content reached up to 30% of the insect's body weight [18]. In the same context, “the national algal biofuel technology roadmap” publication highlighted the ability of algae to produce biofuel [19]. Nevertheless, the latter required modification in the algal lipids [20], which constituted an obstacle for the production and commercialization of this type of biodiesel (Su et al., 2017). The previous studies focused on enhancing the quality and quantity of the biodiesel of BSFL [[16], [17], [18]] and algae [19,20], but no one discussed the improvement of BSFL biodiesel by adding algae or microalgae.

This current research studied the impact of adding the microalgae to organic waste on the black soldier fly's biodiesel production. In this context, larvae of black soldier fly were reared on the organic waste (fruits, vegetables, and kitchen; 1:1:1) alone, or the organic waste mixed with the microalgae, Chlorella vulgaris (1:0.5). Then, the biodiesel characterization in form of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) was done. Also, the indirect evaluation of biodiesel oxidation stability, inform of oxidants and antioxidants levels, was tested before and after adding the three different antioxidants, ascorbic acid, α-tocopherol, and catechin.

Section snippets

Insect species and algae origin source

Larvae of the black soldier fly were obtained from the Livestock Entomology Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Egypt. The colony was maintained for more than 20 generations before being used in this study. The larvae were incubated at 24 ± 2 °C, 12:12 L:D, and 65% RH. While, the microalgae were supplied from the colony established and identified by Agricultural Research Center, Egypt for more than 5 generation till used in the experimental. Microalgae were colonized according to

Biodiesel production yield

The BSFL-biodiesel production yield was calculated by equation (1), to assess the effect of C. vulgaris additive incorporation to insect food on the biodiesel production rate. The biodiesel yield from additive addition of algae to organic waste (group B) was enhanced by 1.4 folds than organic waste only (group A) (Fig. 2). This finding could be explained by the fact that polar lipids were used on the elevation process of transesterification velocity, biodiesel yield and lipase stability

Conclusion

It is well conceived that biodiesel production from black soldier fly, using the organic waste nutrition and Chlorella sp. algae, provides a novel and promising option for large-scale production of biodiesel which match the international standards as the FAMEs composition of biodiesel samples from group B was increased than those of group A. The current study also showed that BSFLBD was rich in caprylic, capric, lauric, myristic, nonadecanoic, heptadecanoic, palmitic, palmitoleic, stearic,

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Disclosure of potential conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Publisher's note

Springer Nature remains neutral regarding jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Credit author statement

Aya Hamdy Mahmoud, Mohammed Yasser Hussein, Habiba Mohamed Ibrahim, Mariam Hazem Hanafy, Sohaila Mohammed Salah: practical and Formal analysis; writing original draft; Ghada M. El-Bassiony and Eman Alaaeldin Abdelfattah: Conceptualization; Data curation; Funding acquisition; Investigation; Methodology; Writing - review & editing.

Research data for this article

The raw data of the article are available from the authors upon request.

Funding agencies

The present study was funded by Cairo University (projects and research grants) entitled. “Recycling of organic wastes using ecofriendly-biological technology project".

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Mahitab Ezzat El Daly, English Editor, for her guidance in the manuscript English proofreading.

This study was done at the Entomology Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Egypt, with assistance of team members (Dyaa Bassiony, Aya Mohamed Aboelhassan, Nada Yasser Ibrahim, Hamid Ashry Abdelhamid, Mohamed Ashraf Fawzy, Naira Essam Mohamed, Abdalla Nagah Abdelhamid, Mohamed Saeed Sadek, Omnia Mahmoud Abdelaziz, Reem Mohamed Hamdy, Hager Ibrahim Saad,

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