A recycling method using sub-critical water hydrolysis to convert hog hair from slaughterhouses into amino acids was developed. The influence of the reaction parameters such as temperature, time of reaction and initial substrate concentration were investigated in a batch reactor. The quality and quantity of amino acids in hydrolysates were determined and 17 kinds of amino acids were obtained. Under the tested conditions, the highest amino acid yield (325 mg/g protein) was reached at an initial substrate concentration of 10 g/l, a temperature of 250 degrees C and a reaction time of 60 min. A large amount of low-molecular weight amino acids, such alanine and glycine, was observed at these operating conditions. Sub-critical water hydrolysis was confirmed as an effective and practical process to recover amino acids from hog hair waste. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.