Spanish insect producer Bioflytech is building a new facility in Palas de Rei to produce 12,000 tonnes of fresh black soldier fly larvae per year.
The rendering and drying plants are being set up, and in the coming weeks, the first of the six fattening halls will start operations, each of which will produce 2,000 tonnes of fresh black soldier fly larvae per year, until reaching the maximum production capacity of this first phase, of 12,000 tonnes per year during Q1 2024. In the coming years, further major investments are planned in this plant in order to reach 100,000 tonnes per year of black soldier fly larvae production.
The facility is equipped with a gas rendering installation designed by the company and unique in the market, a disruptive technology to manufacture tailor-made insect meal with specific percentages of protein and fats according to the customer's demands, and which is set to revolutionize the insect protein meal production sector, the company said. The new plant will also have a second conventional rendering line, which is currently in the testing phase and is expected to start production this November.
This is the second Bioflytech plant. The first plant in Fuente Alamo currently produces 4,000 tonnes of fresh larvae per year. One of the largest black soldier fly hatcheries in the world is located here, with a production of 180 kilos of black soldier fly eggs per month.
Bioflytech was founded in 2012 as a biotechnology company linked to the University of Alicante. Six years later, Moira Capital acquired the majority of its capital, and at the end of 2019 moved its operations to Fuente Álamo.
The company's strategic plan includes an investment of EUR 2.8 million this year in various improvements in the first plant, with the aim, among others, of increasing the monthly egg production to 350 kg. Now, with the start of the second plant, which will operate through its subsidiary Alternatives Fats and Proteins of Galicia, Bioflytech will consolidate its position as a producer of insect-derived products for the animal feed industry.
