Enzymatic dehairing: A comprehensive review on the mechanistic aspects with emphasis on enzyme specificity

Enzymatic dehairing as a part of the efforts for greener leather processing has reached progressive advancement with the tradition-bound tanning industry being now more receptive to cleaner processing methods due to increasing pressure from environmental groups. The dehairing mechanism is vaguely understood at present from the point of view of the enzyme specificity, which is needed for consistent and satisfactory hair removal without deleterious effect on the leather quality. Gaining insight into the dehairing specificity would help in designing efficient dehairing process. This paper attempts to review the literature pertaining to all the relevant and critical issues in detail to clearly delineate the right kind of substrate specificity required to attack only the potential targets for hair removal, and for making fine quality leather without adverse effect on other desired leather making components of the skin matrix. The gap in understanding of these critical issues is discussed with recommendation for further scientific studies in the area.