Measuring the ability of bacteria to degrade tannery waste

Popularity of leather in the human daily life

This began with an ancient civilization where humans used natural fibers from plants for their clothing needs. In its development, the need for basic materials for making clothes and accessories becomes an interesting thing to discuss. One material that is widely used is animal skin. However, to make the animal skin ready for use, several processes are often called the tanning process. The purpose of this tannery process is to convert raw animal skins into tanned leather so that they become more durable. This tanning process generally begins with salting the animal's skin material. Then in the next process is the core of the tanning process, where the skin is soaked together with various preservatives to maintain the condition of the skin. Unfortunately, this process requires materials to accelerate chemical reactions (catalysts) based on heavy metal chromium. Of course the use of this material is quite dangerous for the environment. As is well known, heavy metal chromium is a type of heavy metal that has a high level of toxicity. Production processes that occur continuously will definitely have a negative impact on the environment.

Utilization of Bacteria to Degrade the Chromium in the Environment

One way that can be used to overcome the problem of heavy metal chromium pollution in the environment is to use bacteria. Some bacteria are known to have the ability to reduce the content of chromium heavy metals in the environment. Various studies have been conducted to observe the effectiveness and efficiency of the use of bacteria to reduce the heavy metal chromium. Although many studies have shown the fact of a decrease in chromium content, but its effectiveness is greatly influenced by many factors. Some of the factors that influence this effectiveness include: type of bacteria, ambient temperature, and the level of environmental acidity (pH). The right combination of these three factors will produce an effective chromium reduction effectiveness. In some studies it is even known that the use of bacteria can reduce chromium content in the environment by seventy percent. This is certainly very amazing, and can be used as an alternative solution to overcome the problem of chromium pollution from tanning waste.