Waste Management xxx (2016) xxx–xxx

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Waste Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman

A novel bioconversion for value-added products from food waste using

Musca domestica
Yi Niu a, Dong Zheng a, Binghua Yao b, Zizhe Cai a, Zhimin Zhao a, Shengqing Wu a, Peiqing Cong c,
Depo Yang a,⇑
a
School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
b
College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
c
State Key Laboratory of Bio-control, School of Life Science, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Food waste, as a major part of the municipal solid waste has been generated increasingly worldwide.
Received 27 February 2016 Efficient and feasible utilization of this waste material for productivity process is significant for both eco-
Revised 27 August 2016 nomical and environmental reasons. In the present study, Musca domestica larva was used as the carrier
Accepted 14 October 2016
to conduct a bioconversion with food waste to get the value-added maggot protein, oil and organic fer-
Available online xxxx
tilizers. Methods of adult flies rearing, culture medium adjuvant selection, maggot culture conditions,
stocking density and the valorization of the waste have been explored. From the experimental results,
Keywords:
every 1000 g culture mediums (700 g food waste and 300 g adjuvant) could be disposed by 1.5 g M.
Food waste
Bioconversion
domestica eggs under proper culture conditions after emergence in just 4 days, 42.95 ± 0.25% of which
Musca domestica had been consumed and the culture medium residues could be used as good organic fertilizers, accom-
Maggot protein panying with the food waste consumption, 53.08 g dried maggots that contained 57.06 ± 2.19% protein
Maggot oil and 15.07 ± 2.03% oil had been produced. The maggot protein for its outstanding pharmacological activ-
Biodiesel ities is regarded as a good raw material in the field of medicine and animal feeding. Meanwhile, the mag-
got oil represents a potential alternative feedstock for biodiesel production. In our study, the maggot
biodiesel was obtained after the procedure of transesterification reaction with methanol and the produc-
tivity was 87.71%.
Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction large-scale production, amount of this food waste found no effi-

Waste as a major problem globally becomes more and more sig-
nificant in both developed and developing countries. Food waste
which includes unconsumed food that is discarded by food pro-
cessing industries, retailers, restaurants, and consumers(Huang
et al., 2015), is the single largest component of the waste stream
worldwide. For its high contents of biodegradable organic com-
pounds and moisture (75–85%), food waste readily decomposes,
followed by generating foul smell and sometimes leading to illness
under natural environments (Moon et al., 2009). According to the
data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO), there are 1.3 billion tons of food waste produced
every year, around one-third of food produced for human con-
sumption globally (Gustavsson, 2011). In contrast to current
⇑ Corresponding author at: School of Pharmaceutical Science, Sun Yat-sen
University, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou, China.
E-mail address: lssydp@mail.sysu.edu.cn (D. Yang).
cient uses different from landfill or first-generation recycling prac-
tices (such as animal feed, composting and incineration) (Lin et al.,
2013). However, incineration and landfill are two crucial sources of
greenhouse gas emission (Camobreco et al., 1999), animal feed and
composting with food waste that will increase the risks of occur-
rence of animal related diseases and the pollution of the surface
and underground water (Uncu and Cekmecelioglu, 2011). Waste
is a resource rather than problem, The McKinsey Global Institute
announced that food waste ranked third of fifteen identified
resources with productive opportunities (Dobbs.R 2011). Conse-
quently, it is an urgent issue of finding more sustainable, efficient
and economic competitive methods for food waste recycling. Bio-
conversion, due to its environmentally friendly, sustainable, and
renewable properties, is considered to be one of the most promis-
ing methods to deal with food waste. Some scholars have con-
ducted the bioconversion using earthworm and Black Soldier Fly
and they all obtained visible results in vary degrees (Nguyen
et al., 2015; Wani et al., 2013).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2016.10.054
0956-053X/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: Niu, Y., et al. A novel bioconversion for value-added products from food waste using Musca domestica. Waste Manage-
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2 Y. Niu et al. / Waste Management xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
Musca domestica (Linnaeus) (Diptera: Muscidae) is a kind of
holometabolous insects with morphologically distinct stages of
egg, larva (maggot), pupa and adult (Roger, 2002). The larva of M.
domestica are fond of organic wastes such as rotten organisms, rub-
bish, and animal waste, thus food waste is an eligible feed for them.
Unlike many pests that consume waste, Musca domestica has many
outstanding advantages as following: firstly with their strong
adaption to environment and not easily infected, M. domestica
exhibits a large geographic distribution, thriving in temperatures
ranging from 20 °C to 35 °C in areas like Australia, the Pacific,
Africa, the Americas and Asia. Without the species introduction,
the food waste consumption can be achieved. Secondly, Musca
domestica has highly reproductive ability, fast growth and short
lifecycle. Each M. domestica female can lay totally approximately
500 eggs during its entire life. The lifecycle of them is about
15 days, they can usually survive 7–8 generations per year, and
even 20 generations under proper conditions. Year-round breeding
could be achieved through artificial feeding circumstance. Last but
not least accompanying with the consumption of waste, more
valuable and worthy production has been produced. The dried
maggots have 55% crude protein and 15% fat. Maggot protein
is a good substitute of fish meal in livestock (Satoh et al., 2010),
due to its noticeable pharmacological activities. It has also been
regarded as a promising medicinal material. In our study the mag-
got oil as a new material for biodiesel has been proved to be viable.
Therefore we can prospect that the bioconversion for value-added
products (such as maggot protein and biodiesel) from food waste
using Musca domestica is universal, efficient and with high eco-
nomic and environmental values.
Food waste, on account of its high viscosity and humidity, is not
suitable for rearing maggots directly, in which some low-cost adju-
vant should be added. In the present study, we have examined the
impact of different adjuvant on the Musca domestica larval devel-
opment, assessed the maggots’ capacity of reducing food waste.
The protein as well as oil increment of maggots have been valued.
Meanwhile, the elementary analysis of the maggot fatty acid and
preparations of maggot biodiesel have been done.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Rearing of the adult flies
The Musca domestica in our research was captured from wild in
Zhongshan, China and identified by Professor Hong PANG, depart-
ment of life science, Sun Yat-sen University. Every 5000 adults
were reared in one 50 ⁄ 50 ⁄ 50 cm mesh cage (0.2 mm pore size)
with a stocking density of approximate 2.8 cm3 per fly. M. domes-
tica colonies were maintained on a diet of 2:2:1 sugar powdered:
milk: hen egg at 25 °C with a photoperiod of 12:12 (L:D) h cycle.
Small white bags filled with soggy wheat bran and brown sugars
(4:1) were placed in the colony cages as oviposition medium. Every
other 12 h, the concentrated eggs were collected and inoculated
into different culture mediums.
2.2. Examined the impact of different adjuvant on the larval
development
Food waste described in this paper was obtained daily from
three different sites, a Chinese restaurant, a western restaurant
and a breakfast shop in Zhongshan, China. They were dehydrated
with strainers (75% moisture content) followed by mixing and
shattering uniformly for backup. Four kinds of low-cost offcuts
were chosen as the adjuvant of food waste: millet bran, whole-
plant corn silage, wheat bran and sawdust, which were all dried
and crushed coarsely. The study subjects were divided into four
Please cite this article in press as: Niu, Y., et al. A novel bioconversion for value-added products from food waste using Musca domestica. Waste Manage-
ment (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2016.10.054
groups, each group contained prepared food waste (700 g) and
one kind of adjuvant (300 g) that mentioned above (Group1: wheat
bran, G2: millet bran, G3: whole-plant corn silage and G4: saw-
dust). All the groups were mixed uniformly and kept the humidity
at 70–80% with tap water, pH at 5–7 and the temperature at 25–
30 °C. Every group was inoculated with 0.8 g M. domestica eggs
(13,000 larva). After the eggs hatching, the culture medium was
stirred evenly every other 6 h at the premise of keeping the whole
system ventilating. After four-day rearing, the third instar larva
was harvested and analyzed. All procedures were performed with
at least three independent replicates.
2.3. Assessing the maggots’ capacity of reducing food waste
Different quantities of M. domestica eggs including 0.5 g (8000
eggs), 0.75 g (12,000 eggs), 1 g (16,000 eggs), 1.25 g (20,000
eggs), 1.5 g (24,000 eggs) and 2 g (32,000 eggs) were inoculated
in 700 g food waste and 300 g wheat bran. The rearing methods as
employed in 2.2 were used. After four-day cultivating, the even
weight of single maggot was assessed, the maggots and culture
medium were separated and dried in the oven (60 °C), then
weighted respectively (on account of the variation water content
of the fore and aft culture mediums, we adopted dried culture
mediums weight to calculate the culture medium consumption
rate here). The protein and oil content of the larva had also been
evaluated.
2.4. Analysis
2.4.1. Determination of protein, oil consent of larva and nutrient
evaluation of the adjuvant
Fresh third instar larva were put into boiling water for instant
death, dried in an oven at 60 °C for 24 h, and crushed into powder.
The method of Kjeldahl nitrogen determination was used to deter-
minate the content of protein of larva, KJELTEC 8400 Auto Kjeldahl
Nitrogen Analysis (FOSS. Denmark) was used in our study. The oil
extraction was carried out using a soxhlet extractor with n-hexane
as solvent for 8 h, following with a recovered process using a rotary
evaporator at 50 °C under vacuum. Oil was warmed at 80 °C for 2 h
to remove the excess moisture then weighted to determine the oil
contents. Fiber and ash contents were analyzed with the method of
acid and alkali digestion by the Fibertec2010 (FOSS. Denmark). Car-
bohydrate contents were the rest material contents after getting
rid of the other three factors. Protein, oil, carbohydrate, fiber and
ash of the adjuvant had been evaluated in our study.
2.4.2. Maggot fatty acid composition analysis
The maggot fatty acid composition was analyzed with a Finni-
gan GC–MS system equipped with a DB-5 MS column
(30 m ⁄ 0.25 mm ⁄ 0.25 lm) and FDI. Helium was used as the car-
rier gas at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min and a pressure of 100 kPa. The
oven temperature was set at 210 °C for 15 min. Electron ionization
mode (ionization energy of 70 eV) was used for GC–MS detection.
The injector and MS transfer temperatures were both set at 250 °C.
The scanning mass range selected was 29–500 m/z. A sample vol-
ume of 1.0 lL was injected into the column with the split ratio of
1:30 (EN14103, 2003). Data were managed with Xcalibur software
with the NIST mass spectra library database.
2.5. Preparation of maggot biodiesel
Fresh third instar larvae were put into boiling water for instant
death, dried in an oven at 60 °C for 4 h, and crushed into powder.
The powder was then immersed in five times amount of n-
hexane for fat extraction for 12 h. The extraction was recovered
by using a rotary evaporator at 50 °C under vacuum. Oil was
 Y. Niu et al. / Waste Management xxx (2016) xxx–xxx 3

warmed at 80 °C for 2 h to remove the excess moisture. Then the

obtained maggot oil (MO) was subjected by an acid pretreatment
to lower the acid value. Maggot oil and methanol were added to
a flask in a ratio of 1:8 with an amount of sulfuric acid (1 wt%
MO) and then were heated at 70 °C for 2 h. The mixture was
allowed to settle for 2 h, and the methanol-water fraction in the
top layer was removed. The oil phase was washed with distilled
water until a neutral pH was achieved. This procedure was fol-
lowed by the removal of the residual methanol by rotary evapora-
tion (Leung et al., 2012). The pretreated maggot oil was heated to
the desired temperature in an oil bath before starting the reaction.
KOH (Potassium hydroxide) was used as catalyst. Experiments
were performed under the conditions referred to the paper of
Zhuoxue Li et al. that methanol to oil molar ratios was at 6:1, cat-
alyst concentrations of KOH was 1.4 (weight%), reaction tempera-
ture was 55 °C and reaction time was30 min. Agitation intensity
(200 rpm) was kept constant throughout the whole course of
experiments. When the reaction had proceeded for the desired
duration, the reaction flask was transferred to ice to stop and then
Fig. 1. The larva quality parameters of four different culture mediums, Group1:
centrifugated at 3000 rpm for 5 min. The upper layer was sepa-
wheat bran, G2: millet bran, G3: whole-plant corn silage and G4: sawdust. Datas are
rated and washed with 70 °C deionized water until it reached neu- expressed as the means ± standard error of mean (SEM).
trality. After a process of drying, housefly larva methyl esters
(biodiesel) was obtained (Li et al.,2012).
same time this group is the very culture medium that cultivated
the maggots with the highest content of protein and oil.
3. Results and discussion
To explain this phenomenon, the nutrition analysis (protein, oil,
carbohydrate, fiber and ash) of the adjuvant had been done
3.1. Adult fly rearing
(Table 1). Based on the available data, we can find wheat bran
had the highest protein and fat content and lowest content of fiber
The adults stocking density is approximate 2.8 cm3 per fly,
and ash. Previous study showed that fat is the most consumed
which is described in the paper of Cickova et al. (2012). Appropri-
nutrients in the maggot diet, followed by protein and carbohydrate
ate temperature as well as sufficient illumination is very important
accounts for just a small part of the total depletion and there is
for oviposition of adult flies. We found that neither a high (>35 °C)
hardly any consumption of fiber and ash (Lin Bai et al., 2007).
nor a low (<20 °C) temperature is suitable for flies to lay eggs and
Therefore it could be known that wheat bran is the most eligible
in dim light the amount of eggs would be reduced as well. So we
adjuvant of the four. Besides the nutrition supply, proper content
maintained the housefly colonies at 25 °C and gave additional light
and different variety of fiber of adjuvant is the main influential fac-
during cloudy days. Generally brown sugar and milk are the usual
tor of cultivation. Appropriate content of fiber can raise the air per-
food for adult flies, during our rearing, hen egg was added to their
meability of the culture mediums. However, excessive fiber
diet, for the reason that protein is the very nutrition for females
especially binding with lignin will not only prevent the leaching
generating eggs. Flies laid the largest quantity of eggs during the
of nutrients but also increase the losses of water and heat for its
second week after emergence. At the peak of oviposition, we could
lower hydrophily than protein and sugar. Thus it will change the
collect 10 g eggs (160,000 eggs) from one cage within 12 h. Four
humidity and temperature of culture mediums, which are the
weeks after emergence we removed and executed the old flies. In
two essential factors of maggot rearing. Even though millet bran
consideration of females’ preferring whiteness, white bags were
and whole-plant corn silage can offer nutrition to maggots to some
used to collect eggs in the M. domestica colony.
extent, they cannot provide relatively stable culture circumstances.
The culture result was not successful as group1. Consequently we
3.2. The impact of different adjuvant on the larval development hypothesized that wheat bran may be an eligible adjuvant of food
waste to culture housefly maggots.
The viscosity and humidity of food waste are extremely high,
and its moisture content can reach 70–80%. For being photophobic, 3.3. The maggots’ capacity of reducing food waste and ability of
the larva will drill into the culture medium. Highly viscous food protein and oil increment
waste cannot provide sufficient air for maggots. Therefore food
waste is not suitable for rearing maggots directly and we should The dried maggot productions, culture medium consumption
add some low-cost adjuvant into it. Wheat bran, millet bran, rates and even single larva weights under different inoculum den-
whole-plant corn silage and sawdust were selected as candidates sities (Table 2) were compared. It turned out that the dried maggot
with the reason that they are all easy-accessed, low-cost and production and culture mediums consumption would increase
large-outputted. In addition to the bioconversion of food waste along with the raise of inoculums density. This trend became flat
into valuable products, we hope to find a new significant usage gradually when the inoculums density was higher than 1.5 g/kg.
of these remnants. We assessed the dried maggots’ production, Meanwhile the even single larva weight decreased accompanying
protein and oil contents as well as the even weight of each larva the increase of inoculums density (Figs. 2–4). More than 40% cul-
from four groups (by mean of weighting 100 fresh maggots then ture mediums could be consumed by M. domestica larva. It could
deducing the even weight of each larva). The results were shown be shown that when the inoculums density was increased, substi-
in Fig. 1. All the parameters were the means of three parallel test- tuting for the accruing of consumption rates was the decrease of
ing. From the results we can find group 1 (700 g food waste and even single larva weight, which indicated the food waste culture
300 g wheat bran) provide the highest production of maggots, medium contained 40  45% nutriments that could be consumed
the rank of even weight of each larva is also the first one. At the by maggots and the optimal quantity of housefly eggs for success-

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4 Y. Niu et al. / Waste Management xxx (2016) xxx–xxx

Table 1
Nutrition analysis of four culture medium adjuvants.

Wheat bran Millet bran Whole-plant corn silage Sawdust

Protein (%) 14.4 ± 0.30 8.6 ± 0.15 5.7 ± 0.26 1.5 ± 0.13
Fat (%) 3 ± 0.24 5.76 ± 0.28 3.2 ± 0.22 1.1 ± 0.33
Carbohydrate (%) 71.8 ± 0.18 60.14 ± 0.31 72.8 ± 0.5 26.2 ± 0.26
Fiber and ash (%) 10.8 ± 0.24 25.5 ± 0.11 18.3 ± 0.19 71.2 ± 0.27

Table 2
Parameters of cultivation under different inoculums densities.

Inoculums density Production Consumption Single larva weight

(g/kg) (g/kg) rate (%) (mg)
0.5 32.69 ± 1.03 38.74 ± 0.43 21.42 ± 1.01
0.75 42.66 ± 0.92 38.53 ± 1.31 19.57 ± 0.77
1 45.28 ± 1.21 37.26 ± 0.78 16.66 ± 0.74
1.25 45.7 ± 0.80 41.05 ± 1.47 12.65 ± 0.25
1.5 53.08 ± 0.96 42.95 ± 0.25 11.59 ± 0.69
2 55.81 ± 0.65 43.49 ± 1.31 10.27 ± 0.93

Fig. 4. Even single larva weights under different inoculum densities, datas are
expressed as the means ± standard error of mean (SEM).

Fig. 2. Dried maggot productions under different inoculum densities, datas are
expressed as the means ± standard error of mean (SEM).
ful bioconversion was 1.5 g (24,000 eggs)/kg for food waste with
wheat bran. From the available data, 1.5 g eggs of M. domestica
after hatching could deal with 1 kg culture medium which meant
they could dispose 700 g food waste and 300 g wheat bran in four
days, among which 410 g culture medium was consumed and the
food residues were finally turned into high quality organic manure
that could be used to fertilize the crops (Haug, 1993). In our exper-
iments, 6 g eggs could obtained from one 0.125 m3 cage of housefly
adults averagely per day, thus one cage of housefly could deal with
2.8 kg food waste every four days. Disposition of 1 ton food waste
just need a space of 44.64 m3 and four days.
The protein and fat contents have been tested in our study, and
all the groups of maggots contained the content of protein and fat,
57.06 ± 2.19% and 15.07 ± 2.03% respectively. For rearing in filthy
and decaying niches without viral or bacterial infections, a variety
of researches about the maggot proteins had been done. Scholars
found the effects of antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal (Fu
et al., 2009)and in vitro antitumor properties (Cao et al., 2010) of
the protein extracts from housefly larvae successively. In addition
to the great medical values, for the maggot protein’s good pharma-
cological activities and balance of amino acid content, it was
regarded as a good substitute of fish meals in the field of animal
breeding. In order to ascertain the safety of the protein of food
waste cultural maggots, we had determined the content of the
aflatoxin-B1 with colloidal gold test strip and aflatoxin-B1was not
detected in maggot (<10 ppm). The oil of maggots was another
kind of product, according to the analysis of its fatty acid composi-
tion (showed in 2.3), it could be found that the oil of maggots
would be a feasible resource for biodiesel production. After the
reaction of transesterification with methanol, the housefly larva
methyl esters had been produced.

Fig. 3. Culture mediums consumption under different inoculums densities, datas

are expressed as the means ± standard error of mean (SEM).

Please cite this article in press as: Niu, Y., et al. A novel bioconversion for value-added products from food waste using Musca domestica. Waste Manage-
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 Y. Niu et al. / Waste Management xxx (2016) xxx–xxx 5

Table 3
Ingredients and relative contents of maggot fatty acid.

Number Retention time/min Ingredient Molecular formula Relative content/%

1 2.09 Lauric acid C12H24O2 1.21
2 2.46 Tridecoic acid C13H26O2 0.08
3 2.93 Myristoleic acid C14H26O2 0.64
4 2.99 Myristic acid C14H28O2 5.96
5 3.75 Pentadecanoic acid C15H30O2 2.51
6 4.48 Hexadecadienoic acid C16H28O2 0.4
7 4.65 Palmitoleic acid C16H30O2 17.4
8 4.91 Palmitic acid C16H32O2 27.14
9 6.41 Heptadecanoic acid C17H34O2 0.65
10 7.95 Linoleic acid C18H32O2 13.45
11 8.15 Oleic acid C18H34O2 24.54
12 8.71 Stearic acid C18H36O2 5.01
13 9.2 Alpha-Linolenic Acid C18H30O2 0.36
14 11.22 Arachic acid C20H40O2 0.09

Table 4
Fuel properties of biodiesel from housefly (Musca domestica L.) larva oil.

Property Test method Biodiesel from HLO ASTM D6751 EN14214

Density (kg/m3) ASTM D5002 875.0 –a 860–900
Viscosity (mm2/s) ASTM D445 4.14 1.9–6.0 3.5–5.0
Flash point (°C) ASTM D93 164 93 min 120 min
Water content (mg/kg) ASTM D95 <0.03 0.03 max 0.05 max
Acid value (mg KOH/g) ASTM D664 0.17 0.50 max 0.50 max
Cold filter plugging point (°C) ASTM D6371 4 –a –b
Sulfated ash content (%) ASTM D874 0.004 0.02max 0.02 max
Sulfur content (mg/kg) ASTM D4294 nd 0.05max 10max
Copper strip corrosion ASTM D130 1a No.3max No.1 min
Cetane number ASTM D613 55 47 min 51 min

nd Not detected.
a
Not specified.
b
Not specified. EN 14214 uses time and location-dependent values for the cold filter plugging point instead.

Fig. 5. Process Map and results of the bioconversion of food waste using M. domestica.

3.4. Analysis of maggot fatty acid composition by GC–MS
Through analysis by GC–MS, we obtained the ingredients and
relative contents of housefly larva fatty acid, which is shown in
Table 3. Those could be found that palmitic acid (27.14%), oleic acid
(24.54%), palmitoleic acid (17.40%), linoleic acid (13.45%) and
myristic acid (5.96%) are the main ingredients of the maggot fatty
acid. Most fatty acid of the M. domestica larva contain 16–18 car-
bon chain, which is similar to the composition of petroleum. Com-
paring with the ingredients of plant oil that was usually used for
biodiesel production such as palm oil and wine stone oil. It is
demonstrated that maggot fatty acid is analogous to them.
Previous study suggested that the major factor contributes to
the price of biodiesel is the feedstock, which accounts for nearly
80% of the price (Sharma et al., 2008). Therefore, ideal resources
should fulfill the requirements of large production scale and low
production cost (Singh and Singh, 2010). In our study, maggots
were fed with food waste and low-cost wheat bran. The highly
reproductive ability of M. domestica ensured large production of
maggot oil. Consequently, it can be deemed that as the value-
added product of food waste via bioconversion of M. domestica,
maggot oil is a promising material of biodiesel.

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6 Y. Niu et al. / Waste Management xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
3.5. Yield and fuel properties of HLMEs
The process of acid pretreatment had lowered the acid value
into 0.71 mg KOH/g, conversion of the maggot oil could continue
with the base-catalyzed transesterification. Under proper condi-
tions, the maximum yield of housefly larva methyl esters (HLMEs)
from maggot oil was 87.71%. The dried maggots in our research
contained 15.07 ± 2.03% oil, thus the yield of the M. domestica larva
biodiesel was 13.21 ± 1.78% from dried maggots. The fuel proper-
ties of refined HLMEs were determined and reported in Table 4.
The physical and fuel properties of HLMEs such as density
(875.0 kg/m3), kinematic viscosity (4.14 mm2/s), flash point
(164 °C), cetane number (55) were comparable to those of ASTM
D 6751 and EN 14214. Other properties of purified biodiesel such
as, acid value, sulfur content, sulfated ash content, copper strip cor-
rosion, water content were met to the European and American
standards for biodiesel fuel. One of the major problems associated
with the use of biodiesel is its poor low temperature flow property
due to chemical properties of the raw housefly larva oil (HLO), con-
sisting of 43.1% saturated fatty acid. This can be improved via using
additives such as depressants, flow improvers, winterization etc.,
alternatively, the fuel can be used in warm-temperature climates
or in the summer season only (Cvengroš and Cvengrošová, 2004).
At this point, a new system of food waste disposition had been
established. In our system 1 ton food waste could be disposed in
just 4 days. Furthermore, the whole bioconversion could produce
379 kg fresh maggots which could provide about 43.26 kg protein
and 11.43 kg oil. Through further processing, protein drugs and
biodiesel which are with more economical values could be
obtained. The whole working scheme of the bioconversion could
be observed in Fig. 5.
All the materials in this system were readily-accessible and
low-cost. The space required for the system was really small (dis-
posing 1ton food waste only needed 44.64 m3). In addition, the
conditions of the bioconversion were easier control, in Guangdong
province of China where are with the subtropical monsoon climate,
8 months disposition without any temperature supplement can be
achieved. Except small amounts of organic emissions, this process-
ing would produce little pollution to the environment. Conse-
quently, it can be suggested that the present system is economic,
environmentally friendly and with high value added.
4. Conclusion
Bioconversion as a new conception for food waste disposition
has drawed increasingly attentions in the field of environmental
protection and resources. In our present study, housefly had been
selected as the carrier for the bioconversion. Besides its outstand-
ing ability of food waste consumption, the products were also
estimable. Protein and oil were the two main value-added products
here. Their contents were 57.06 ± 2.19% and 15.07 ± 2.03% respec-
tively. From the experimental results, the eligible adjuvant was
likely to be wheat bran and the optimal quantity of housefly eggs
was 1.5 g (24,000 eggs)/kg for food waste with wheat bran. Under
proper culture conditions the efficiency of food waste consumption
and productivity of increments via the bioconversion by the house-
fly were encouraging. In addition, the biodiesel production with
maggot oil had been explored in our study. The maximum yield
Please cite this article in press as: Niu, Y., et al. A novel bioconversion for value-added products from food waste using Musca domestica. Waste Manage-
ment (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2016.10.054
of housefly larva methyl esters (HLMEs) from maggot oil was
87.71%.
In the future studies, the process of biodiesel production with
housefly larva would be further optimized. The food residues of
the maggot would be further explored, more experiments about
its fertilization qualities would be started. Additionally, more stud-
ies on the safety of the maggot protein would be explored.
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