One valuable product of black soldier fly farming is chitin, a natural biological polymer that is an essential component of insect bodies. After extraction, it can be used in numerous applications including medicine, environmental remediation, and agriculture. Therefore, understanding its structure receives increasing attention from the scientific community.

Khayrova, A.S., Sazhnev, N.A., Korobovskaya, D.V., Lopatin, S.A., Kildeeva, N.R. and Varlamov, V.P., 2024. Isolation of Chitosan-Melanin Complex from Black Soldier Fly Adults and Obtaining Nanofibrous Materials Based on It. Applied Biochemistry and Microbiology, 60(2), 201-206.

The article presents the results of studying the viscosity of chitosan-melanin complex solutions from the insect Hermetia illucens and the process of gelation in these solutions in the presence of crosslinking reagents. Chemically cross-linked nanofibers were obtained from solutions of the chitosan-melanin complex in dilute solutions of acetic acid by the method of spinneretless electrospinning. The presence of 14% melanin made it possible to reduce the concentration of acetic acid in the spinning composition.