Soaking

Soaking is the first operation of leather processing, it is used to clean hides and skins by removing various unwanted contaminants such as dirt, blood, flesh, grease and dung. It is carried out in alkaline conditions of a pH of 5.5-10. Soaking also rehydrates the skins and hides with the use of proteases and carbohydrases. Proteases work by dissolving interfibrillary proteins that compact fibers together while carbohydrases break up carbohydrates within the hide and as a result increase water uptake . The use of enzymes in this step improve softness, elasticity, area yield and decrease the production time by 10-20 hours. The use of certain proteases also decreases the need for liming chemicals which harm the environment by 30-60%.