FARMYNG project – The first commercial insect biorefinery for alternative proteins production

Type of post: PROJECT PROFILE.

In late 2014, the Blog issued a post (only in Spanish) about Ÿnsect (a French company that farms insects to make high-quality, premium natural ingredients for aquaculture and pet nutrition) and its biorefinery model. In that time, Ÿnsect was dealing with the building of its first pilot facility. Now, with the boost of a BBI JU flagship project, this company will stablish the first commercial biorefinery that produces alternative proteins from insects for animal nutrition on an industrial scale. We are going to find out more about Ÿnsect and the FARMYNG project whose official launch took place last 11^th June.

FARMYNG key data

Title	FlAgship demonstration of industrial scale production of nutrient Resources from Mealworms to develop a bioeconomY New Generation (FARMYNG).
Aim	FARMYNG aims to establish the largest global fully-automated flagship industrial plant to produce premium proteins from insects (Tenebrio Molitor), showcasing a successful example to customers, investors and suppliers, in Amiens (France). The FARMYNG flagship plant will be able to produce more than 1,500 tons of proteins per month, a production rate that has never been achieved by any other insect-protein production plant in the world.
Programmes	- H2020-EU.2.1.4. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – Biotechnology. - H2020-EU.3.2.6. - Bio-based Industries Joint Technology Initiative (BBI-JTI).
Topic	BBI.2018.SO3.F2 - Large-scale production of proteins for food and feed applications from alternative, sustainable sources.
Call for proposals	H2020-BBI-JTI-2018.
Funding Scheme	BBI-IA-FLAG - Bio-based Industries Innovation action – Flagship.
Total budget / EC contribution	46,934,849.10 € / 19,630,411.18 €
Start date / End date	1 June 2019 – 30 June 2022
Coordinator	- YNSECT (France)
Partners	- AJINOMOTO ANIMAL NUTRITION EUROPE (France) - ASSOCIATION INDUSTRIES ET AGRO-RESSOURCES (France) - CENTRE WALLON DE RECHERCHES AGRONOMIQUES (Belgium) - CHAMTOR (France) - CLEXTRAL (France) - CLUSTER INDUSTRIELLE BIOTECHNOLOGIE 2021 E.V. (Germany) - COMMISSARIAT A L ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES (France) - COMPO FRANCE (France) - EUROFINS ANALYTICS FRANCE SAS (France) - MG 2 MIX (France) - MIGUEL TORRES SA (Spain) - PNO CONSULTANTS (France) - QUANTIS (Switzerland) - SKRETTING AQUACULTURE RESEARCH CENTRE AS (Norway) - STAR FOOD HOLLAND BV (Netherlands) - STOWARZYSZENIE ZACHODNIOPOMORSKI KLASTER CHEMICZNY ZIELONA CHEMIA (Poland) - TGC EXTRUSION (France) - ULMA MANUTENCION S. COOP. (Spain) - VIRBAC NUTRITION (France)

Ÿnsect summarised history

2011	Ÿnsect is established by 4 founders with complementary skills and entrepreneurial experience.
2012	Ÿnsect joins Agoranov (a French incubator) and coordinates one of the largest R&D programs on insect-based products (DESIRABLE).
2013	Ÿnsect launches its lab-scale production.
2014	Ÿnsect is joined by eminent partners to develop its strategy and raises 1.8 M€ with Emertec and Demeter. It is the French Cleantech company of the year and opens a new facility at Genopole biocluster.
2015	Ÿnsect invests 10 M€ in the construction of Ÿnsite, a pilot farm-hill in Dole (France).
2016	Ÿnsect produces several hundreds of tons of finished products.
2017	Ÿnsect accelerates its development and begins the building of its first farm-hill.
2018	Ÿnsect announces the installation of Ÿnfarm#1 in the vincinity of Amiens.
2019	Ÿnsect raises 125 M$, the largest-ever ag-tech funding deal outside of the United States.

  

Figure 1. Ÿnsite, a demonstration facility designed to produce insects at large scale (taken from the company website)

Ÿnsect process

Ÿnsect process addresses plenty of disciplines like animal husbandry, microbiology, plant nutrition, animal nutrition, robotics, big data, biochemistry and enzymology. Its ŸnFarm platform deals with high tech farming based on robotics, embedded sensors and big data to produce very large quantities of insects at a very high quality. Also, the process works with mild processing technologies to recover all insect compounds, in a zero waste scheme. Ÿnsect uses agro-byproducts and food leftovers as insect feed in a circular economy scheme, to prevent incineration or other low-grade valorization of these biomass materials.

Figura 2. Ÿnsect process (taken from the company website)

Insect production is very economical in terms of natural resources and delivers products that are reducing impacts on the environment by their substitution potential. Insects can build complex, efficient structures to support their populations. Ants, for example, use tunnel networks to access stacked, vertical alcoves with eggs, larvae, and adults. These tunnels optimize air flow to ventilate the entire ant hill structure. Inspired by this insect ingenuity, Ÿnsect has built vertical farms of Molitor (mealworm beetles) and it call them “Farm-hills”, in reference to their inspired-by-nature origin (according to the principle of biomimicry, drawing inspiration from nature).

Juvenile insect larvae are fed and grow under optimal conditions for several weeks 95% are steamed, then processed into proteins and oils, without using any chemical agents. The remaining 5% become adults and reproduce to renew the juvenile population.

Ÿnsect products

ŸnOil^TM: It is a light oil rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, extracted from Molitor larvae via automated mechanical processes. It is a natural source of daily nutrition for farmed fish and crustaceans and pets.

ŸnMeal^TM: It is a highly digestible, natural source of premium protein, with more than 70% protein concentrate. Ÿnsect turns Molitor larvae into powder form perfectly suited for farmed fish and crustacean nutrition and pet diets.

ŸnFrass^TM: Ÿnsect offers an environmentally friendly fertilizer alternative. Insects are an essential part of natural soil biodiversity. ŸnFrass is made of Molitor larvae castings, is rich in organic matter and contains essential nutrients for plant growth and health.