Research on the Hydrolysis of Hide Waste in the Presence of Natural Polymers

Like other industries, the leather processing industry is forced to face high costs for waste treatment and disposal. Consequently, researchers are seeking solutions for effective recovery of organic waste from tanneries through various biochemical treatments in order to obtain protein biofertilizers. The novelty is based primarily on the fact that the starting point of the promoted technologies is the development of new complex products obtained by processing organic waste, called hydrogels with collagen structure, with applications in agriculture. This paper presents an innovative process for the biochemical degradation of pelt waste in order to obtain encapsulated protein biocomposites to be used as fertilizers for poor soils and for plant growth. The proposed method consists in the treatment of raw hide waste by direct hydrolysis of protein waste in an acidic environment, in combination with other polymers (polyacrylamide, starch, urea, acrylic, maleic, cellulose, etc.), thus obtaining hydrogels with collagen structure. For this purpose natural sources of protein are enriched by the addition of macro- and/or micronutrients, resulting in compounded complex systems, namely protein hydrogels. Following experiments it can be concluded that direct hydrolysis of a protein source in the presence of natural or synthetic polymers results in hydrogels with collagen structure to improve soil quality and horticulture.