The role of cattle in leather industry, biogas production and gelatine industry

The role of cattle in leather industry, biogas production and gelatine industry

There is a proverb in Kannada which states that the cow is useful to the farmer when it is alive as well as when it is dead. This is very true because apart from the main produce the milk, the cow is useful to the man in a number of ways. Agricultural field works, transportation, fertilizers, tan­ning industry, food industry are some of the fields where cattle are ex­tremely useful.

Leather industry:

Leather finds a number of uses in various fields. Foot­wear, clothing, purses, belts are all made of leather. Leather is obtained from animals and is then processed before being fashioned into various kinds of goods. Leather industry is also called tanning industry because it is here that the raw skin obtained from animals is “prepared” so that it could be used for various purposes.

Among animals which provide hide (skin) for leather industry livestock are most important. Cattle and buffaloe skin is the principle source of leather supply. The skin of cow is called kips and that of the buffaloe is known as buff.

In tannaries, the raw skin obtained from animals is processed following various steps such as flaying, curing, salting and tanning. The tanning pro­cess is a very complicated process and involves three main steps.

These are the pre-tanning, tanning and post-tanning. The pre-tanning process itself involves a number of steps like soaking, liming, unhairing, fleshing, deliming and pickling. The tanning process involves treating the skin with organic, inorganic and synthetic tanning agents.

Basically there are three types in tanning. These are vegetable tanning, chrome tanning and oil tan­ning. In the post tanning step the skin is subjected to a number of mechani­cal, physical and chemical treatments. The population of cattle in India is one of the highest in the world and hence no wonder India is one of the leading suppliers of leather goods to the world market.

In order to improve the quality of the leather researches are going on and there is an Institute for this purpose- Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) at Madras. Tannaries are also present in Kamataka – Mysore Chrome Tannaries, Ban­galore. In our state Athani and towns nearby are very famous for produc­ing quality footwear. Kanpur in North India is also very famous for the manufacture of leather goods.

Biogas:

The Indian livestock produce an enormous amount of dung which can be put into proper use for the purpose of harnessing energy. The dung of cattle undergoes putrefaction in the normal course by decaying bacteria and releases a gas. Researches have shown that this gas can be used for the same purposes as natural gas.

Popularly called gobar gas or biogas, the gas obtained from the dung of cattle can virtually create an energy revolution in rural India. An estimate shows that the average annual pro­duction of cattle dung in our country exceeds 1,500 million tonnes.

Even if a small quantity of this is used for the purpose of biogas production it will solve the entire energy problem of rural India. In the production of biogas, the cattle dung, urine and some of the agricultrual wastes are put into huge tanks built for this purpose along with some quantity of water. Bacteria normally present in these wastes bring about putrefaction and release the gas which can be supplied through pipes. The biogas can be used as a cooking fuel and it also can be used for the purpose of lighting.

Biogas plants can be built on different sizes de­pending on the requirement and the availability of animal dung and plant wastes. Even a single family with 40-50 kgs of daily production of cow dung can have a small gobar gas plant which will supply all their daily fuel and lighting requirements. Use of biogas also has an indirect benefit in that it protects the forests which should have otherwise been cut to provide fuel wood.

Gelatin:

This is a protein derived by the degradation of collagen which is a fibrous protein present in the connective tissues of animals. In cattle, many parts of the body contain collagen which can be used for the produc­tion of gelatin. Gelatin from animal sources is mostly produced in West­ern countries. Another source of gelain is marine algae belonging to the classes Phaeophyceae and Rhodophyceae.

Gelatin is insoluble in cold water but increases in volume after taking in water. There are a number of uses for gelatin including in food and chemi­cal industries. In the food industry ice creams, jelly, candies and confectionary items contain gelatin. In chemical industries gelatin is use­ful in the manufacture of photographic emulsions. In the pharmaceutical industries gelatin finds extensive use in the manufacture of the capsules. The capsule covering is made of gelatin and on being swallowed, the gela­tin covering dissolves, releasing the medicine.