Comprehensive industry-relevant black soldier fly bioconversion characterisation by a novel chamber system

•Detailed description of a novel industry-relevant respiration chamber system.•Comprehensive technical and biological validation of the system.•Variation in food waste compositions changed substrate temperature by > 10 °C.•Variation in food waste compositions changed peak CO2 emissions by approx. 150% Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) efficiently convert biowaste into valuable animal feed. Sustainable and reliable bioconversion is desirable to achieve optimal economic and environmental outcomes. Thus, science and industry require an accessible research platform to study complex bioconversion processes under conditions mirroring industrial-scale settings. In this study, industry-relevant respiration chambers were designed, tested, and replicated for BSFL feeding trials. Each open-circuit chamber housed three industrial rearing crates. The substrate/frass and air temperature, mass change, NH3 and CO2 emissions, and relative humidity were measured. The design was validated for CO2 recovery, airtightness, airflow homogeneity, and BSFL performance using firstly, a uniform control substrate and secondly, uniform food waste across four parallel chambers. In a third trial, the composition of food waste was varied across parallel chambers to detect differences in metabolic processes. For trials using uniform substrates, low variability across chambers in performance parameters confirmed the reproducibility and comparability of the design (e.g. bioconversion rate: