Approach Towards Safe and Efficient Enzymatic Unhairing of Bovine Hides

Abstract

Unhairing is an essential step in leather manufacturing. Thetraditional hair-burning technology brings huge sulfide pollutionand large COD, BOD in the effluent. Hair-saving enzymaticunhairing is a popular method for displacing sulfide unhairing.However, some of the problems associated with enzymaticunhairing are need for greater control over process parametersand possibility of grain damage to the pelt. To overcome thesechallenges, an attempt has been made to utilize bivalent metal ionsfor safe and efficient enzymatic unhairing on bovine hides. Theeffect of metal ions such as Ca(II), Mg(II), Mn(II), and Zn(II) ionson the activity of AS1.398 protease for hydrolyzing collagen andcasein was investigated. The findings were corroborated with thebovine hide unhairing and the resultant leathers were ofappreciable quality. The outcomes of this study could add to theknowledge of enzymatic unhairing leading to cleaner leathermanufacturing in a safe and efficient way.