Abstract
In conventional leather industries, large amounts of chemical wastes have been disposed into the environment. It is thus urgently needed to use alternative processes free from pollution and use of biological catalysts for industrial processing has received considerable attention in recent years owing mainly to environmental concerns. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to produce and characterize keratinase enzyme from B. subtilis ES5 and evaluate its potential application for leather dehairing process. The gene encoding keratinase has been validated with a fragment length of approximately 1100 bp. The keratinase exhibited maximum activity at temperature and pH of 45℃ and 8, respectively. Among the tested metal ions Ca2+ and Mg2+ improved keratinase activity by 132.56 and 111.78%, respectively at concentrations of 5 mM. β-mercaptoethanol enhanced keratinolytic activity. However, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) significantly inhibited it, indicating that the enzyme is a member of the metalloprotease family. It completely dehaired goat/sheep skins within 14 h, resulting in decreased biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solids (TSS), and overall pollution load by 57.39, 70.53, 93.59, 94.90, and 79.10%, respectively. The results demonstrate the pivotal advantages of this keratinase, addressing environmentally friendly processing and sustainable solid waste management. The improved properties of enzyme-treated dehaired pelts suggest that crude keratinase could be used in ecologically friendly holistic leather manufacturing to avoid the pollution issues associated with the use of chemicals.
Presenters
Getachew AlamnieResearcher and Lecturer, Biology, Mekdela Amba University, Adis Abeba, Ethiopia
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2025 Special Focus—Sustainable Development for a Dynamic Planet: Lessons, Priorities, and Solutions
KEYWORDS
Characterization, Dehairing, Effluent Analysis, Enzyme Production, Keratinase, Leather
