Rising costs of proteins, potential health and growth benefits of insect-based ingredients for animals and an increased focus on sustainability are strong drivers for the emerging insect industry. As a result, the sector has reported over $300 million of investments in 2018 alone. To leverage this booming sector, Bühler Insect Technology Solutions (BITS), a pioneering provider of integrated solutions for insect rearing and processing, and Alfa Laval, a world leader in heat transfer, separation, and fluid handling, have been cooperating since early 2018 with the objective of combining their strengths to provide efficient and integrated production plants.

Andreas Aepli, Bühler Insect Technology Solutions CEO, and Sumit Pingle, Vice President Agro & Protein Systems at Alfa Laval, have signed the exclusive partnership. Aepli says “in Alfa Laval we are proud to have found a partner who shares our approach and vision in this exciting new industry. Thanks to this collaboration, we can further increase the efficiency and reliability of our solutions, setting high standards for the industry right from the start.” Pingle adds, “with the combined offering, we are in a unique position to provide the best insect processing solution in the market with unmatched product quality and safety.”

Bühler Insect Technology Solutions and Alfa Laval aim to leverage each company’s technology capabilities, engineering know-how and market access. The two companies have jointly developed tailored solutions for heat transfer, solid and lipid separation, and fluid transfer that can be integrated seamlessly into modular insect plant solutions. Thanks to their joint expertise, these highly flexible solutions allow insect producers to easily ramp up production as demands increase. The products will be offered exclusively through Bühler Insect Technology Solutions.

The two companies will also cooperate on further research and development, marketing and after-sales services. The President of Alfa Laval’s Food & Water Division, Nish Patel says, “we are looking forward to bringing our expertise from other applications to this dynamic new market. The collaboration with Bühler allows us to combine our proven technology with a complete integrated solution and serves the customers better than either of us could on our own.” President of the Global Sales and Service Organization at Bühler Group, Dieter Voegtli adds, “we are convinced that insects will play an important role in making our food system more sustainable. With the construction of the first industrial-scale insect plant in Europe nearing completion, we will soon have an operating proof point of the viability of our insect process technology in an industrial setting.”