Enzymatic Biotechnology Applied to Pelt Waste

Abstract

Enzymes are the substances that speeds up a chemical reaction suitable for green chemistry and can be used to achieve ecological industrial processing in order to reduce the effects of industrial pollution. Microbiological degradation of pelt waste is amongst the permanent concerns of tanners. Several enzymes have been used in the leather industry to substitute the conventional process, mainly proteases. The objectives of this study were to isolate and identify bacteria which produced protease enzyme from tannery solid waste. The selected bacterial strains showed increased protease biosynthesis capacity, which had a significant hydrolytic action on pelt waste. The results obtained in this study demonstrated the ability of strains belonging to the Bacillus genus to synthesize increased amounts of proteolytic enzymes and to degrade pelt waste, as well as the possibility of using these microorganisms as a source of protease in various biotechnological processes.