With the full implementation of garbage sorting, the first automated fly larval treatment wet waste plant in China, which is under construction on Shanghai's Chongming Island, has accelerated the process and is expected to be completed by the end of this month. At present, the factory that uses grain worms to eat wet garbage has the ability to process 10 tons of wet garbage per day, and the daily processing capacity will reach 25 tons after all of them are completed, converting wet garbage and agricultural waste into insect protein and organic fertilizer, and realizing the resource utilization of garbage.
Liu Guangfu, a professor at Tongji University who undertakes the municipal government's domestic waste decision-making consulting project, believes that this biotechnology is superior to organic waste disposal processes such as anaerobic fermentation and aerobic composting, and is worth promoting and applying. However, the private enterprises that invented this technology did not go smoothly on the road of industrialization. How to provide a better industrial environment for innovative waste treatment enterprises has become a topic worth studying.
Start a business with the idea of "bugs eating garbage"
Why would you think of eating wet garbage with the larvae of a fly? Na Chenning, founder and chief operating officer of Shanghai Yuanshi Environmental Technology Development Co., Ltd., said that in 2014, he and his entrepreneurial partner Chen Wei learned that insect meal can replace fishmeal as aquatic feed, and the nutritional value is higher. So how to breed insects at a low cost and on a large scale? They came up with an idea – feeding bugs with kitchen waste, which would reduce costs and have environmental value.
After research, they chose grain worms. In the Chinese Medicine Pharmacopoeia, the dried larvae of the insect Big-headed Golden Fly or other closely related insects of the Family of Lycopodiums are called "grain worms". Its insect body is large and the outer skin is thinner, and the animal can fully digest after eating this insect feed. The goal of Yuanshi Environment is to build a number of "five grain insect factories" to convert organic waste such as wet garbage into fertile larvae and insect manure rich in organic matter, the former as feed and the latter as organic fertilizer.
Grain worm larvae
In 2016, the private enterprise established an experimental base in a garbage treatment plant in Yuyao, Ningbo, and overcame a series of technical problems in large-scale industrial breeding of grain insects, and obtained 5 invention patents and 32 utility model patents. After inspecting the experimental base, a Shanghai angel investor invested 10 million yuan in the company. In 2017, they participated in the 6th China Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, stood out in the Shanghai Division, and were shortlisted for the industry finals and won the title of "Excellent Enterprise". Through the platform of the competition, Yuanshi Environment has received tracking services from the Shanghai Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Center and attention from all walks of life.
Today, the company has built a harmless treatment plant for sick and dead animals and animal feces in Baicheng, Jilin Province, a kitchen waste treatment plant in Fuling, Chongqing, and a circular economy demonstration park in Wusheng, Sichuan. In addition, an automated organic waste treatment plant in Chongming, Shanghai, a harmless treatment plant for sick and dead animals in Nanchuan, Chongqing, and a kitchen waste and animal feces treatment plant in Huzhou, Zhejiang, are under construction.
Chongming automated factory turned waste into treasure
Some regrets are that this private enterprise has not yet received great support from state-owned enterprises in the industry on its growth path. "The threshold of the garbage disposal industry is relatively high, and the procedures for project approval, process review, land approval, and environmental impact assessment are cumbersome." Na Chenning said, "What we need most is projects and funds, which is exactly what state-owned enterprises do not lack." It is understood that a large state-owned enterprise in Shanghai has held two demonstration meetings on the "five grain worm factory", which has been affirmed by experts, but this company requires Yuanshi Environment to do an automation model project first, so that the leaders can make decisions after inspection.
In Na Chenning's view, this approach is a bit conservative, and today, when the "open innovation" of large enterprises has become a global trend, large state-owned enterprises can intervene in the industrialization path of "grain worm factories" earlier, and join hands with private small enterprises to innovate and jointly build model projects. The person in charge of the Shanghai Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Center believes that state-owned enterprises in the industry can give project resources to this private enterprise to provide an application scenario for innovative process technology. If the demonstration application works well, it should be vigorously promoted.
Fortunately, using a closed dairy farm in Chongming, a model project of more than 6 million yuan of social capital investment introduced by Yuanshi Environment is about to be completed. This is the first automated grain insect treatment wet waste plant in China, with a total area of 50 acres, the total design capacity of the existing plant is 100 tons / day, and the first phase of the project design treatment capacity is 25 tons / day. It is currently in the trial production stage and has the capacity to process 10 tons of garbage per day.
On the production line, boxes containing fly larvae are seen running on conveyor belts. Every once in a while, the feeding mouth puts pre-treated wet waste and other organic waste into the box to become a delicacy for the larvae.
The production line of Chongming "Five Grain Worm Factory"
Chen Wei told the Jiefang Daily Shangguan News reporter that after the wet garbage is transported to the factory, the workers first remove the large inorganic visibles, and then through the automation device, the straw and other agricultural wastes are mixed with the wet garbage, stirred and crushed, and the pretreatment is completed. There is no problem in the wet garbage mixed with inorganic objects such as plastic bags, and it is also crushed. At the other end, the factory has built a seed fly house, which produces 1 kg of eggs per 10 square meters, which can grow into 100 kg of larvae. They can eat 500 kilograms of organic waste in a 5-day growth cycle and then end their "mission". Taking advantage of their fear of light and heat, the photothermal device on the production line automatically separates the larvae from the insect droppings. After the former is burned, it becomes a dry and hard "frozen worm" through low-temperature particle freezing technology and is used as insect protein feed; the latter is transported to the composting workshop for fermentation and becomes organic fertilizer. The plastic and other inorganic substances in the insect feces become very dry due to the "oil and water" absorbed by the larvae, and can be separated by simple screening, and collected for low-cost recycling.
According to reports, the factory is equipped with a negative pressure fresh air system and a constant temperature and humidity air conditioning system, the odor produced is sucked out by the fresh air system, and discharged after 3 processes of dry filtration, ultraviolet photolysis, and biological bacteria spray tower, which will not pollute the environment.
How to strengthen the garbage disposal industry
Liu Guangfu analyzed that compared with the wet waste treatment process such as anaerobic fermentation and aerobic composting, this biotechnology has four major advantages: First, the decomposition speed is fast, the cycle of larvae eating garbage and excreting feces is only 1 day, and the treatment cycle of anaerobic fermentation and aerobic composting is up to about 20 days; the second is to treat garbage in a confined space, there is no secondary pollution, and composting is carried out in the open air; third, it is easy to produce on a large scale, and the equipment investment and operating costs are relatively low; the fourth is high-protein feed, The economic value of these two major outputs of organic fertilizer is quite high, and there is no need to worry about sales, while the outputs of anaerobic fermentation and aerobic compost are not very good, and there will be by-products that need to be landfilled. At present, the profit of 1 ton of garbage processed by the "Grain Worm Factory" is 700-800 yuan, which is much higher than other current processes. Compared with biotechnology that uses earthworms and cockroaches to decompose garbage, fly larvae have stronger decomposition capacity and shorter growth cycles, which facilitate large-scale production.
"So this new process is worth promoting and applying." Liu Guangfu said. According to reports, in Ohio, usa, a larval factory has also been built. They use the larvae of the black water fly to decompose organic waste and produce four products, including feed and high-fat oil.
Vegetables with organic fertilizer applied to insect manure grow well.
In the future, on the road of promotion and application, private enterprises not only need the strong support of state-owned enterprises, but also need government guidance to obtain a better industrial environment. In Liu Guangfu's view, garbage disposal is an industry, and for a long time, the institutional mechanism of this industry in China has been "government-led, state-owned enterprises at the bottom". With the full development of garbage classification, this institutional mechanism needs to be broken through urgently, and it should be changed to "government guidance, market competition, and the coexistence of multiple business models". On the government's side, it is necessary to introduce industrial policies to guide the better development of the garbage disposal industry, rather than having to take on a big package. In terms of market mechanism, it is necessary to introduce more social capital and private enterprises, and adopt various business models such as government procurement of services, franchising, and bot (construction-operation-transfer). "Only by making the garbage treatment industry bigger and stronger, garbage classification will be more valuable, and the level of garbage reduction, recycling and harmless disposal in Shanghai and other provinces and cities will be continuously improved."
As a private high-tech enterprise, Yuanshi Environment has caught up with the "outlet" of this industry. After the completion of the Chongming "Five Grain Worm Factory", it will be accepted by the government department, and will be inspected by the market and local residents thereafter. "If our process technology passes the test, we hope to use it for the upgrading of wet waste treatment plants in various districts of Shanghai and be applied in the construction of new plants in the future." In Na Chenning's words, there was self-confidence and longing.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Huang Haihua Text Editor: Yu Taoran Caption Source: Provided by Yuan Shi Environment Photo Editor: Cao Liyuan