Studies on potential application of crude keratinase enzyme from Stenotrophomonas sp. for dehairing in leather processing industry

Abstract

Chicken feathers represent huge pool of waste biomass which can undergo microbial degradation to generate value added products. Chicken feathers can be used as cheap substrate for production of keratinase enzyme which can be effectively used in dehairing of hides. Such enzyme based process is superior over conventional chemical based dehairing process, known to be responsible for pollution of the aquatic ecosystems.