Arctic REC develops technologies for processing reindeer husbandry waste into pharmaceuticals

The issues of complex processing of animal raw materials were discussed during a working meeting of the delegation of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug and representatives of the directorate of the REC "Russian Arctic". Instead of disposing of deer skins and other reindeer husbandry waste, scientists propose to obtain useful preparations collagen and keratin, widely used in both the pharmaceutical and food industries.

Both the district administration and reindeer herding farms are interested in deep processing of reindeer biomass – skins, horns, hooves, which remains in the production of meat products.

Preliminary studies of scientists have shown two directions of using biological raw materials – dressing, or processing for collagen.

- In 2022, we were able to select skins and get a collagen-containing preparation for food products from them, - said Andrey Aksenov, head of the sector of the Laboratory of Arctic Biomonitoring of the Lomonosov NARFU. - As part of the task, we are trying to create a better and more cost-effective final product for use in pharmacology.

Colleagues from the East Siberian State University in Ulan-Ude, who have been specializing in the manufacture of wild animal skins for more than 60 years and have their own proven developments, are ready to share raw material preparation technologies.

- We plan to create an experimental laboratory on the basis of our university to test all the subtleties of the technological process that could be scaled in production, - said Marat Yeseev, scientific director of the REC "Russian Arctic". - We already have the necessary equipment for the study and analysis of the obtained raw collagen.

In addition, it is planned to use the experience of a scientific laboratory in Murmansk, created as part of another REC project, to obtain medical collagen from fish skin.

- We are interested in this project. But we will understand its prospects based on the results of the technical audit. It is necessary to determine the volume of raw materials, - said Natalia Sidorova, Deputy Governor of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug. - Our Department of Natural Resources will analyze the whole situation, based on this, a decision will be made on further actions - what financial support can be provided from the region.

In addition to deep processing of reindeer husbandry waste, representatives of the district expressed interest in cooperation with the REC in the direction of aquaculture and educational projects.