Joseph Ondari Nyakundi

Our innovation involves the use of an enzyme for hair removal stage during leather production. This enzyme is a game changer in the leather industry as it will eliminate the use of the highly polluting sodium sulphide currently in use while producing improved quality hides and skins with regard to touch and feel as well as reducing the pollution load in the wastewater stream.

Our enzyme is safe to use and the technology leaves the hairs and fat intact without breaking them down. This enables the recovery of intact hair and fat by a simple sieving/decantation technique and hence reducing water pollution load as well as cost of effluent treatment. The wastes, now by-products, can be used for other industrial applications such as the manufacture of biodiesels, soaps, fertilizer, poultry feed, lotion, and cosmetics thereby reducing land pollution as they would, otherwise, end up in landfills.

This technology will greatly benefit tanners who will plug it directly into their production line. Leather product manufacturers and leather consumers as a whole as will also benefit as they will be consuming responsibly produced products thus ensuring the industry is responsible for life on land and below water. This enzyme will not only make leather processing cleaner but also sustainable and with reduced health risks to employees, and water and land pollution.