Palm oil replacement: Black soldier fly larvae could be the answer

Utilisation of BSF larvae could help to stem the expansion of damaging palm oil production, researchers from UK-based consultancy Tunley Environmental, claim in a new study.

Cultivation of palm for the purpose of oil extraction has been rapidly expanding since the 60s. In 1961, 3.6m hectares of land was used globally for production of palm oil, in only 46 years that quadrupled to just under 14m hectares.

Some 95% of extracted palm oil is formed from different triglycerides esterified with long chain fatty acids. The majority of lipids eaten by humans are in the form of triglycerides esterified with fatty acids.

The remaining 5% is made of other hydrophobic molecules, like sterols, pigments and phosphates.

Can black soldier fly larvae be used to replace palm oil?Current palm oil production process (Image: Tunley Environmental)Near 80% of the lipids in BSF larvae are triglycerides esterified with long chain fatty acids, the research shows. However, the oil must be carefully refined due to it containing several compounds that can negatively affect odour, appearance, and suitability.

In exploration of their theory to replace traditional palm with BSF larvae, scientists developed a scenario that replaced palm oil plantations with native forestry. Alongside this, the requirement of commercial space for farming of BSFL was also considered.

A yield comparison between the two formats was made. Researchers noted that palm can be planted at 150 palms per hectare of plantation, each palm was estimated to yield 12.5 palm fruit bunches per year. The weight of each palm was estimated at 25kg, with an oil concentration of 25%.

At these estimates, scientists claimed a productivity of 11.7kg of oil per square metre each year using traditional palm production methods.

Cultivating BSF larvae in a tall, urban-style building, can yield a 92kg output per square metre per year. Around 20% of this weight can be purified into oil.

“This leads to a yield of BSFL oil at 18.4kg per metre squared per year,” the study showed.

How palm oil could be replaced using BSF larvae. (Image: Tunley Environmental)How environmentally friendly is the process?However, a vertical farm consisting of 15 separate levels could increase the yield to up to 275.9kg of BSF larvae oil per square metre.

“In order to replace the current 16.6m hectares of palm oil plantations it would take 0.7m hectares of ground space to construct into vertical farms,” researchers claimed.

Utilising a BSF larvae vertical farm process could be more than 20 times more efficient in terms of ground space area occupied than palm oil plantations, said the researchers. The resulting product could replace vegetable oils without impacting the final product to the consumer.

Although, the research points to issues including the lack of appeal to consumers who may likely not want to consume products containing insect-based oils.

“Technical challenges do also exist around consistent input of organic matter, maintenance of a colonies genetic profile, and optimisation of the oil extraction process,” the study acknowledged.

Source: Tunley Environmental

Published online: 23 January 2025

Website: https://www.tunley-environmental.com/

Authors: G Davies & T Garraty