Studies on the Removal of Inter-fibrillary Materials Part II: Removal of Protein, Proteoglycan and Glycosoaminoglycans from Biobased Pre-Tanning Process

摘要

Eco-concerns are forcing the leather industry to shift itself from chemical based processing to bio-processing. The use of enzymes for unhairing and bating has been long established and well reported; but the use of a-amylase for fiber opening is a recent development, which advocates the complete elimination of lime. Though the bio-based fiber opening process is established to be an eco-friendly alternative, it is essential to establish its effectiveness versus the conventional liming process by more objective methods. Hence in this work an attempt has been made for quantitative analysis of inter-fibrillary materials viz., proteins, proteoglycans and glycosoaminoglycans (GAGs) released from the skin matrix by the use of complete enzyme based beamhouse process, especially the effect of a-amylase in beamhouse processes. It is observed that treatment of 2% a-amylase for a time period of 180 min is sufficient for the removal of optimum amount of inter-fibrillary materials especially, proteoglycans. Matched pair comparison of experimental bio-based processing has been made with conventional lime based processing and it is observed that the removal of proteoglycans were comparable in both these processes. Also, the crust leathers processed from the matched pair beamhouse processes were compared for their organoleptic and strength characteristics. Both experimental bio-processed leather and conventionally processed control leather were observed to be comparable. This work further authenticates that a completely bio-based beamhouse process is not only eco-friendly but also results in a similar effect on the removal of inter-fibrillary material compared to conventional lime based process.