Microwave drying of insects

Former process

Our customer is a company specialized in dryed insects alternatives for petfood and fertilizer. It has the aim of producing insect-based food in the future, now that it is authorized for humans.

Their previous drying equipment was delivering poor performances. The goal was to improve the drying process to fully meet all their quality requirements (homogeneity, color, texture, taste…) and reach their targeted humidity level.

This customer needed to dry few hundreds kilos per hour of mealworms with a homogeneous, gentle and efficient process. Their product, initially containing around 60% of water, need to be dryed up to 6% to 8% of humidity.

Solution offered

According to the amount of water to evaporate from the product, SAIREM designed a 75 kW microwave power tunnel with an air extraction system.

This compact and continuous solution can evaporate up to 75 kg of water per hour, which allows to dry up to 140kg of mealworms per hour. As microwaves travel through and heat the entire product’s mass, the full process takes less than 10 minutes.

Unlike conventional batch process like freeze drying or hot air oven, microwaves offer a very quick, uniform and flexible solution within a perfect controlled process. This process allows to preserve the organoleptic properties thank to a drying temperature bellow 100°C, enhancing the product’s quality and safety.

Key benefits

• Speed: our equipment saves precious time for the company and allows to increase your production rate.
• Savings: this process allows to save time and energy, therefore money.
• Quality: the product quality has been greatly enhanced compared to the previous equipment used.
• Appearance: the insect integrity and color is preserved due to the quick and gentle process.