Studies on the Use of Bi-functional Enzyme for Leather Making

Abstract

Preparation of skin or hide for tanning involves several unitprocesses/operations. This results in the generation of significantquantity of solid and liquid wastes, which is of major concern forthe leather fraternity. However, several alternate technologies areavailable to address this issue. One of the well explored systemsis application of enzymes in conventional leather processing. Inthe present research, application of bi-functional enzymefibrozyme(mixture of protease and amylase) for leatherprocessing was studied. The present study relies upon thecharacteristic evaluation methods to ascertain the efficiency ofenzymes in unhairing and fiber opening. Initially, variousconcentrations of enzymes were applied to cow hides by drummethod. In this approach, 3.5% of fibrozyme is optimized forefficient removal of hair and proteoglycans. This is based on theorganoleptic evaluation of enzyme treated pelts. The efficiency ofenzyme was primarily evaluated through staining technique.Moreover, physical strength parameters were measured to assessthe impact on fibers due to enzyme treatment. Morphologicalevaluation was carried out to confirm that there is no coalescentor distortion of fibers after enzyme treatment. Hydrothermalstability of experimental wet blue leather was found to be 108ºC,which confirms better exhaustion and fixation of chromium. Thestudy provides an avenue for integrated enzymatic dehairing andfiber opening using a single formulation of protease and amylase.