Evaluation of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide as a potential short-term preservative agent for stripped goat skin

The aim of the present study was to evaluate cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as a short-term preservative agent for stripped goat skin, as an alternative to common salt (sodium chloride), the presently used preservative in the leather industry. Bacteria were isolated from the stripped goat skin at various time intervals and 16S rDNA sequencing results showed the presence of both Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria in stripped goat skin. All the bacterial isolates were inhibited by CTAB with MICs of 0.5-24.5 mg l(-1). Application of CTAB against microbial consortium on stripped goat skin showed that skin sample kept in 5% CTAB solution for 10 min did not contain any bacterial growth even after 12 days storage at room temperature. Scanning electron microscopy analysis and physical testing of skin preserved using CTAB did not reveal any bacterial attack on fiber structure of skin. This study shows that CTAB can be applied as a viable alternative to NaCl which generates a huge amount of pollution there by reducing pollution from leather processing.