Alkaline catalases with good properties are desirable in the textile industry. In the present work, by applying the PoPMuSiC algorithm for the calculation of the folding free energy, Lys114 of a Bacillus catalase was rationally selected and engineered to improve the thermostability. Interestingly, the Lys114Tyr, Lys114Val, Lys114Met and Lys114Ile variants showed higher catalytic efficiencies when compared with the wild-type protein. In particular, the Lys114Tyr variant showed the highest catalytic efficiency, which was 5.3-fold of the wild-type catalase. The production of the Lys114Tyr variant may represent an improved catalase suitable for industrial purposes. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.