Alkaline protease: A tool to manage solid waste and its utility in detergent industry

Abstract

Management of solid waste is an issue of contemporary interest worldwide. Nowadays most of the solid wastes are disposed on the land, and various anthropogenic sources like leather industry, poultry industry (feather), and other food processing industries generate a lot of biodegradable proteinaceous waste. Microorganisms have the ability to produce alkaline protease like bacteria, fungi, algae, plant and animal. This review suggests that various microorganisms are involved in the degradation of household and industrial waste by producing alkaline protease and degradation by this process not only solves the problem of waste management but also generates a source of animal feed as it yields proteinaceous by-product after degradation. Microbial sources of alkaline proteases are preferred over plant and animal sources since they have almost all characteristics which are prerequisite for biotechnological applications, like their high activity at alkaline pH (pH 10), thermostability and broad substrate specificity. Alkaline proteases are extracellular enzyme of metabolic process. This review mainly focuses on the utility of alkaline protease in management of solid waste and in detergent formulation. This review also focuses on the method to improve the capability of microorganism to increase the yield of alkaline protease. © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019.