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Technology & Process · Live System Status

Hermetia illucens bioconversion, engineered to a 24-hour cycle.

Maggot-P operates the proprietary Black Soldier Fly platform that converts up to 50 tonnes of pre-consumer organic waste per day into sterile, EU-compliant larvae protein and pelletized frass — audited, batch-traced, and production-proven across 14 active B2B deployments.

Built for industrial waste streams. Co-validated with Wageningen University. Authorized under EU 2021/1375 (cert. #PAP-2023-0421).

Request a Pilot Proposal Speak with a Process Engineer
Cycle time
24h
Single-line capacity
50t/day
Combined EU footprint
84t/day
Chapter 02 · Unit Operations

The 24-hour cycle, broken into five auditable process chapters.

Each stage is a named unit operation with documented inputs, controls, and outputs. Process engineers can map the diagram below against their own feedstock profile and downstream handling constraints.

  1. 01

    Intake & Pre-conditioning

    Pre-consumer organics arrive in sealed totes and pass magnetic separation, macro-decanter screening, and moisture normalization to a target 68–74% MC before entering the conversion hall.

    Accept. MC
    55–82%
    Particle size
    <25 mm
    Hold tank
    4 × 18 m³
  2. 02

    Larval Conversion

    Six-day-old Hermetia illucens larvae consume feedstock in stacked, climate-controlled trays. Tray-level SCADA modulates temperature, humidity, and feed rate against biomass growth curves in real time.

    Temp setpoint
    28.0 °C
    RH setpoint
    65%
    Feed conversion
    1.00 kg DM → 0.43 kg larvae DM
  3. 03

    Automated Separation

    Harvested biomass passes a proprietary vibratory and air-classification stack (patent EP-3 814 922) that separates larvae from frass at >99.2% purity — no manual handling in the product stream.

    Separation purity
    99.2%
    Throughput
    4.2 t/h
    Operator headcount
    0 in line
  4. 04

    Thermal Kill-Step & Drying

    A two-stage low-temperature process — 72 °C / 20 min pasteurization followed by 58 °C convective drying to <8% moisture — achieves a verified Salmonella-negative, Enterobacteriaceae <10 cfu/g profile.

    Pasteurization
    72 °C / 20 min
    Drying out
    <8% MC
    Salmonella
    Not detected / 25 g
  5. 05

    Frass Valorization

    Recovered frass is pelletized on-site at 220 °C, cooled, and bagged for partner farms. N-P-K 4-3-2 + chitin matrix; 100% of frass leaves the production perimeter as a saleable co-product.

    N-P-K
    4-3-2
    Pellet Ø
    6 mm
    Off-spec rate
    0.4% (2024)
Schematic flow diagram of the five-stage bioconversion process, from feedstock intake to pelletized frass output.
Figure 2.1 · Unit operations flow, single 50 t/day line. Diagram illustrative; full P&ID issued under NDA.
Chapter 03 · Engineering Breakdown

Six systems that make the 24-hour cycle commercially defensible.

The cycle is the headline. The engineering underneath is why it stays in spec at industrial throughput — and why our partners renew. Below, the six component systems our engineers brief during vendor qualification.

Component 01 · Genetics

Proprietary Hermetia illucens strain, selected for a 24-hour feed-to-harvest window.

Our in-house strain library carries 14 founder lines isolated from commercial colonies across three continents. Selected for fast substrate assimilation, low mortality under dense stocking, and consistent fat-body composition. Strain performance is re-baselined every 90 days against a Wageningen-supplied reference population.

  • Feed-to-harvest cycle: 24 h
  • Industry baseline (J. Insects Food Feed, 2022): 38.6 h
  • Founder lineage rotation: quarterly
Component 02 · Separation

Automated vibratory larvae-separation stack.

Patented (EP-3 814 922, US 11/982,440) multi-stage separation reaches 99.2% larvae purity at 4.2 t/h, removing human handling from the product stream. Components are CIP-compatible and sized for 8-hour sanitation cycles.

Component 03 · Thermal

Low-temperature drying preserves protein quality.

Two-stage thermal process: 72 °C / 20 min pasteurization followed by 58 °C convective drying to <8% MC. Crude protein retention verified at 94.6% of pre-process content across 117 batches in 2024.

Component 04 · Traceability

Batch-level blockchain provenance, audited by Bureau Veritas.

Every lot is hashed at intake, conversion, separation, and dispatch onto a private blockchain layer. Auditors pull the full chain on a 24-hour notice. In production since Q1 2024.

Component 05 · Frass Loop

Closed-loop frass pelletization on every site.

100% of recovered frass is pelletized on-site at 220 °C, cooled, and sold to partner farms as a 4-3-2 N-P-K fertilizer. No organic residue leaves the production perimeter unsold.

Component 06 · Controls

SCADA stack with tray-level setpoint control.

Each conversion tray is a SCADA node with independent temperature, humidity, and feed-rate setpoints. Operators see growth curves and biomass drift in real time; alerts route to a 24/7 on-call engineering team.

Chapter 04 · Validation

Only published, certified, or contracted metrics.

Every figure below is sourced from a peer-reviewed paper, an issued certificate, or an executed B2B contract for the 2023–2024 reporting period. No projections, no marketing multipliers.

14/14
Active B2B deployments, 2024
Source: Maggot-P partner register, Q4 2024.
94%
Partner retention, 2024 contract year
Source: Maggot-P commercial audit, 2024.
14,200t
Organic waste processed in 2024
3.1× the 2022 throughput. Source: facility weighbridge logs.
26mo
Average partner payback, 5,000 t/yr contract
Validated across 14 active deployments, 2024 cohort.
#214
Forward Fooding FoodTech 500, 2024
Position #31 globally in Insect Tech sub-index.
PAP-2023-0421
EU 2021/1375 authorization
First Benelux commercial-scale issuance, 2023.
€412k
Average 2024 contract value
Across 14 active B2B deployments.
3 + 2
Granted + pending patents (EU / US)
Larvae-separation and frass-valorization systems.
Chapter 05 · Qualification Aid

Questions our engineers hear in technical due-diligence calls.

These are the four objections that come up most often during vendor qualification with process engineers at agri-food and waste-management groups. If your question is not here, our engineering team answers it directly on the consultation call.

Q01

What feedstock moisture range can the conversion hall accept?

The intake line accepts 55–82% moisture content with no pre-conditioning penalty at the band edges. Outside that range, pre-conditioning tanks normalize moisture to the 68–74% setpoint before the trays. We have run pre-consumer streams from bakeries, breweries, produce wholesalers, and dairy processors — all within the published band.

Q02

What are your heavy-metal bioaccumulation thresholds in the larvae?

We co-published the heavy-metal bioaccumulation curves for Hermetia illucens with Wageningen University in 2023 (peer-reviewed). Operating limits are Cd < 0.5 mg/kg DM, Pb < 5.0 mg/kg DM, Hg < 0.1 mg/kg DM — tighter than EU 2021/1375 ceilings. Feedstock exceeding thresholds is rejected at intake with weighbridge logging.

Q03

Is the kill-step validated for the pathogens my auditors care about?

The 72 °C / 20 min pasteurization stage achieves >5-log reduction on Salmonella spp., E. coli, and Enterobacteriaceae. Validation studies are available under NDA. Independent pathogen audits by Bureau Veritas have run continuously since Q1 2024 with zero non-conformances against the published spec.

Q04

How does the system integrate with our existing waste-handling contract?

Most partners keep their current hauler under a tolling arrangement: the hauler delivers pre-consumer organics to a Maggot-P intake bay, and we convert on a per-tonne service fee. The integration surface is one intake spec and one weighbridge ticket — we provide the API. We do not displace your existing waste-handling partner unless you ask us to.

Open a technical Q&A with our engineers
Chapter 06 · Deployment

A scoped engineering deliverable, not a sales call.

Request a Pilot Proposal and our process team will deliver a customized feedstock-to-output feasibility assessment for a 5,000-tonne/year deployment case at your facility — feedstock characterization, mass-balance model, CAPEX range, integration points with your existing waste stream, and a 26-month payback band.

  • No commitment, no NDA required for the initial scoping exchange.
  • 30-day response SLA from intake call to issued proposal.
  • Delivered by Dr. Marleen Visser (Entomology) or Tom Bakker (Process Engineering).
Request a Pilot Proposal Re-read the process chapters
Or contact the engineering desk directly: [email protected] +31 40 247 9080 High Tech Campus 1, 5656 AE Eindhoven, NL