Microbial enzyme technology as an alternative to conventional chemicals inleather industry

Leather industry contributes to one of the major industrial pollution probl ems facing the country, and the pollution causing chemicals, viz. lime, sod ium sulphide, salt, solvents, etc. arise mainly from the pre-tanning proces ses of leather processing, In order to overcome the hazards caused by the t annery effluents, use of enzymes as a viable alternative has been resorted to in pre-tanning operations such as soaking, dehairing, bating, degreasing and offal treatment, This review focuses on the use of microbial enzymes a s an alternate technology to the conventional methods, and highlights the i mportance of these enzymes in minimizing the pollution load.