Abstract
Author(s): N. Vanitha1, S. Rajan2*and AG. Murugesan3
The demand for alkaline proteases in industries is increasing worldwide. The present research describes the production of alkaline protease in a lab scale fermentor from PD4 strain. The production of alkaline protease was enhanced by optimizationof cultural condition in a stirred bed reactor (SBR). The alkaline protease so produced was applied tothe goat skin for the removal of hair. Dehairing process was considered to be one of the major steps in tannery industries. The chemicals used in this work were replaced by alkaline protease enzymes due to their potentiality for removing the hairs Significant finding of this treatment was that the hair was removed from the root level rather than broken off at the skin surface as in the case with lime sulphide treatment. Treatment with enzyme preparation and lime sulphide showed complete depilation of the hide after 24 h of treatment with the resulting pelt of white color having no scud