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.