69th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics (November 20, 2016 — November 22, 2016)

V0082: Active mixing of black soldier fly larvae

Authors

• Olga Shishkov, Georgia Institute of Technology, Mechanical Engineering
• Sean Warner, Grubbly Farms
• Patrick Pittaluga, Grubbly Farms
• Alexander Reyes, Georgia Institute of Technology, Mechanical Engineering
• Christopher Johnson, Georgia Institute of Technology, Mechanical Engineering
• Bryan Zhang, Georgia Institute of Technology, Mechanical Engineering
• David Hu, Georgia Institute of Technology, Mechanical Engineering

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/APS.DFD.2016.GFM.V0082

Black soldier flies are a widespread fly that is not a pest and does not transmit any diseases. The larvae of the black soldier fly, or grubs, are under consideration as a method of bioconversion of food waste to protein. They eat at extraordinarily high rates: one grub can eat twice its body mass per day. Grubs are also nutritious, being composed of 42% protein and 35% fat. Thus, grubs can be used for composting food waste and as a protein source for livestock and even humans. We study the feeding behavior of these grubs to show that active mixing enhances their feeding rate. There is a limited amount of space around a piece of food, which we call the "dog bowl" problem. At any time, half of the grubs are full and the rest are hungry. When hungry grubs push full grubs out of the way, they create active mixing within the group and allow more grubs to eat. Studying black soldier fly larvae allows us to understand and improve their eating rate, leading to better bioconversion and more sustainable protein in the future.