Mechanical and Enzyme Assisted Fractionation Process for a Sustainable Production of Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) Ingredients

This study aimed at effective fractionation of Hermetia illucens into lipid and protein, considering the insects' anatomy. A hybrid approach was developed, separating the exoskeleton by mechanical pressing and fractionating the slurry by sonication and enzymatic treatment. Microscopy showed that the peripheral fat bodies were tightly attached to muscle fibers. Blanching caused protein aggregation and entrapment of fat in the protein matrix, resulting in 25.0% loss in fat extraction, compared to only 3.3% loss for unblanched larvae. After centrifugation of the juice obtained from unblanched larvae a cream layer rich of lipids and proteins, a supernatant with soluble protein, and a pellet including mainly insoluble proteins were obtained. Blanched juice centrifugation formed a lipid fraction, a reduced cream layer, and more pellet. Whereas, sonication hardly affected the fractionation, enzymatic treatment resulted in solubilisation of pellet protein and an increased lipid layer. In conclusion, processing without blanching is very effective to extract more lipids (>80%) from whole larvae in the form of a cream layer, while blanched-enzymatic treatment allows the extraction of lipids in a clear lipid layer (>40%). In both cases, around 50% of protein was recovered in the residue and the other 50% mainly in the pellet after centrifugation.