BACTERIAL PROTEOLYTIC ENZYMES TESTED ON KERATIN AND COLLAGEN BASED MATERIAL

Biodegradation of fibrous protein is a challenge due to the resistance of the raw material. Enzymes based processes are an alternative to conventional chemical ones because they are environmental friendly, but their efficiency is still limited. They are used mainly in the process of leather obtaining. In the last decade they gain a lot of credit for waste degradation purposes. The main enzymes involved in leather and fur degradation are collagenases and keratinases. The aim of the reported researches is to test a proteolytic complex for its capacity of destroying leather and fur wastes. Four bacterial strains were tested regarding their capacity of hydrolyzing collagen and keratin from bovine leather and sheep fur. For comparison synthetic fur was considered too. Best results were obtained when using sheep leather. The influence of leather dyes was also investigated. Three types of sheep fur were tested: no painted, white painted and black painted. For the painted materials the degradation was less than half, especially when assessing collagenases activity.