ENZYMES

APPLICATION OF ENZYMES IN LEATHER

PROCESSING

PRESENTED BY
T.P.BALACHANDAR
INTRODUCTION
 The scarcity of natural resources and the accumulation of pollution caused by human
activity have required the development of production technology that is less harmful
to the environment. The concept of cleaner production has been used in tanneries in
order to mitigate their impact and reduce the loss of chemicals, water and raw
materials.
 The world capacity of leather processing is 15 million tons of hides and skins per
year. The average wastewater discharge is more than 15,000 million liters/day. Solid
waste generation from the tannery process is estimated at 6 million tons/year. The
disposal of large quantities of sludge, approximately 4.5 million tons/year, and effluent
from treatment plants is a major issue. (2009)
 The amount and type of waste generated during leather production is variable and
depends on numerous factors such as breed, slaughtering procedure, conservation
of hides, and the technology used for hair removal and tanning. Lime/sulfide is widely
used in hair removal because it is more efficient and cheaper than other currently
available technologies.
 The Sulphur present in the effluent comes from organic matter (especially hair)
and from compounds used in the processing of hides including surfactants and
unhairing agents, such as sodium sulphide (Na2S). Sulfur is found in effluents in
the form of sulfates and sulfides. The risk of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) formation
during effluent treatment poses a serious environmental problem.
 To avoid generating hydrogen sulphide from the effluent, the sulphide should be
oxidized, which requires an additional step in wastewater treatment. The
unhairing process can be performed using bacteria or chemicals such as
hydrogen peroxide and sodium hypochlorite to oxidize substances.
 Traditionally, tanneries apply enzymes in the bate step to achieve deep cleaning
of the hide. However, enzymes were also used in the hair removal process at
the beginning of the last century before the development of chemical processes
for hair removal.
 These proteins are gaining more prominence because they are considered to
be environmentally friendly technologies and because of advancements made
in the purification, development and improvement of enzymes. Enzymes are
currently applied at various stages of leather processing, from beamhouse
operations until the final stages.
ENZYMES
 Enzymes are gaining more recognition because of advancements made in
purification, development and improvement, and they are also considered
environmentally friendly. Due to a growing interest in environmentally safer
processes, the leather industry has started using the concept of cleaner production
to minimize its impact and reduce the loss of chemicals, water and raw materials.
 The use of enzymes for leather processing has become a very efficient tool in
achieving these goals. Another additional, but no less important, benefit of
replacing harmful substances by enzymes is the resulting products of better quality.
 Currently, vast efforts are being made to apply enzymes in a wide variety of leather
production processes. For example, none of leather technologists can imagine a
bating of leather without use of enzymes as enzymatic bating has become the
classical method.
 Enzymes can be used in the first step of skin treatment, i.e., soaking of skins/hides.
Various enzymes can be employed as soaking auxiliaries . proteases, lipases,
amylases, chondroitin's, amidases, phospholipases, etc. The identified advantages of
using enzymes for soaking include faster rehydration and removal of interfibriliary
materials .The action of enzymes is one of the methods that leather technologists
use just to accelerate soaking and minimize the use of harmful unhairing chemicals
ENZYMES
 The main enzymes that are of interest to the leather industry are as follows:
Proteases because they hydrolyze the protein fraction of dermatan sulfate, making the collagen more
accessible to water and reducing the attachment of the basal layer. In addition, they act in the removal
of globular proteins;
Lipases, which hydrolyze fats, oils and greases present in the hypoderm;
Keratinases, which hydrolyze the keratin of hair and epidermis and break down the disulfide bonds of
this molecule.
 In the last few decades, research on eco-friendly hair removal has increased substantially with the
growing environmental awareness. Enzymatic unhairing technologies are interesting because they can
preserve the hair and contribute to a reduction in the organic load released into the effluent. These
processes eliminate or reduce the dependence on harmful chemicals such as sulphide, lime and
amines.
 In recent years the industries have seen a growth in the use of biotechnology, using processes like
biocatalyst and biotransformation. Some advantages are: commonly the reaction or biotechnological
processes occur at low temperatures and at atmospheric pressure, the process has a high space-time
yield, renewable ingredients and in many cases there is reduction of environment impact. In leather
production, biotechnology, mostly using enzymes, can be applied in different steps of process:
soaking, unhairing, bating, dyeing, degreasing or in effluent and proteinaceous solid wastes treatment
SOAKING
 Soaking is the first important operation in leather processing. It is done by using amylolytic,
lipolytic and proteolytic enzymes. Specific protease and lipase enzymes enhance water
uptake by breaking down soluble proteins inside the matrix, thus facilitating removal of
salts, hyaluronic acid, disperse fats and oils together with dirt and other contaminants
present in the skin.
 It reduces the wrinkles in leather and thus loosens the scud. It also enhances the opening of
fiber structure. The soaking process helps in bringing the best quality of leather since it
cleans hides and skins by removing dirt, flesh, blood etc and re-hydrates skin back to state
of green hides.
 The identified advantages of using enzymes for soaking include faster rehydration and
removal of inter-fibriliary materials .The action of enzymes is one of the methods that
leather technologists use just to accelerate soaking and minimize the use of harmful
unhairing chemicals
 On the other hand, a possibility of side effects must be very reasonably estimated before
applying enzymes in leather processing. The commercial proteases widely used in soaking,
unhairing, liming and bating, and care was essential in selecting proteases for leather-
making processes to avoid grain loosening and damage from the excessive removal of
elastin.
UNHAIRING
 Un-hairing is the process of removing hairs and furs from the skin or hides without causing
any grain damage. Conventional process of un-haring involves the use of lime and sodium
sulphides which are responsible for causing pollution load. Enzymatic un-hairing is
suggested as an environmentally friendly alternative to the conventional chemical
process. 
 In enzymatic process, it is possible to reduce the chemical exposure and enhance the
softness and area yield. The enzyme which is used for un-hairing is protease. The use of
chemicals will completely dissolve the hair but the enzyme helps in filtering out the hair.
This current process helps in improving the strength properties of the leather with
greater surface area and provide eco-friendly environment to the workers.
 With alkaline protease, we can open up the collagen fibers in hides more effectively. It
delivers optimal penetration and dispersion. It also improves scud and hair root removal,
increases surface area and reduces wrinkles. That means we can produce leathers with
better grain quality and dyeing properties. At the same time, we can reduce the use of
sulfide and improve the sustainability profile.
FIBER OPENING MECHANISM

 Fibre opening enzymes are provided for the mechanism which seems to reduce the
pollution load and need for water treatment thus proving cost effective. The collagen is
bound by proteoglycans which contain protein and glucose linked by the glycosidic
linkages. 
 This enzyme based fibre opening mechanism follows the bio-processing method which
is totally different from conventional chemical based process. Carbohydrases are the
enzyme used in fibre opening that degrades specifically the proteoglycans that opens
the fibre for entry of water which causes swelling. 
 Removal of proteoglycans results in softness. In conventional process, lime is
employed for fibre opening which spoils the environment by causing pollution. Hence
this method helps in reducing the lime sludge problems.
Bating
 The purpose of bating is loosening and peptization of the non-collagenous skin
structure through the removal of the residues of the inter-fibrillary proteins, epidermis
and scuds. This makes them soft and supple and to prepare them for tanning.
 Bating is an important process in which enzymes plays a very crucial role whose
purpose is loosening and peptization of the non collagenous skin structure through the
removal of the residues of the inter-fibrillary proteins. Proteolytic enzyme is mainly
used in the bating process. It helps in removal of lime and other non collagenous
proteins that causes cementing which results in lack of flexibility.
DEGREASING
 Hides/skins, specially domestic sheep skins contain large amount of
natural grease which is generally removed in the tannery by liming
operation .But some times it so happens that the hides and skins
contain appreciable amount of grease is responsible for fatty acid
spues, uneven dyeing and finishing , waxy patches in alum tanned
leathers and pink stains in chrome blues,etc.
 Lipases are a type of enzyme that specifically degrades fat and so
cannot damage the leather itself. Lipases hydrolyse not just the fat
on the outside of the hides and skins, but also the fat inside the skin
structure. Once most of the natural fat has been removed,
subsequent chemical treatments such as tanning, re-tanning and
dyeing have a better effect. The main advantages of using lipases are
a more uniform colour and a cleaner appearance in the pelt. Lipases
also improve the production of hydrophobic (waterproof) leather.