PURIFICATION OF PROTEIN HYDROLYZATE RECOVERED FROM CHROME TANNED LEATHER SHAVING WASTE

Environmental constraints have become key issue for sustenance of industries worldwide. Waste management approach insists tanners look for an innovative way of creating wealth from waste. Chrome tanned leather shavings (CTLS) are generated in leather making process and requires a major attention on disposal. There are developed processes for recovery of protein and chromium from CTLS through acid/alkaline/enzymatic hydrolysis process. However, the derived protein hydrolyzate contains impurities such as chromium and neutral salts. In this study, an attempt has been made to purify protein hydrolyzate through protein precipitation process. Protein purification studies have been carried out to study the influence of factors such as salt concentrations, pH and time. The purity of protein hydrolyzate before and after purification process is found to be 95 and 99.4% respectively. This is further evidenced from amino acid analysis of protein hydrolyzate before and after purification. The recovered protein hydrolyzate could be used in a wide range of products such as fertilizer, animal feed and bio-composites.