Life cycle assessment of organic waste valorisation with black soldier fly larvae: A review
Riris Waladatun Nafiah*, Sri Suhartini, Nur Hidayat

Department of Agro-industrial Technology, Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang, 65145, Indonesia

Abstract

Black soldier flies (BSF) or Hermetia illucens are recognized as valuable insects for reducing organic waste. BSF larvae (BSFL) could degrade organic waste, normally within 18 days. Nowadays, promoting BSF as platform technology in organic waste management is becoming a major focus in Indonesia. Although BSFL have many advantages, there are potential environmental impacts may arise from its application, particularly the global warming potential (GWP) from carbon emissions. This paper investigates the life cycle assessment of BSFL production - as part of organic waste valorisation for assessing the potential environmental impacts. A literature search was conducted on Emerald, Proquest, and Science Direct. Many studies have emphasized the use of LCA analysis using various software or database, including Simapro, OpenLCA, and the Ecoinvent. The results indicate that energy consumption contributes greatly to the overall environmental impacts. In BSFL production, pre-treatment to post-treatment of 1 tonne of organic waste may contribute to non-renewable energy consumption of > 200 MJ and GWP of > 24 kg CO2-eq.

Keywords: Environmental impacts- Hermetia illucens- life cycle assessment- organic waste

Topic: Waste and environmental management