NEW ECO-EFFICIENT PRODUCTS USED IN LEATHER INDUSTRY

Abstract

In today's move to "sustainable production" the leather industry, as well as many other industries is recognized as a polluting one. Traditional chemical operations are polluting because of the levels of inorganic chemical waste. Process chemicals which are not consumed within the reactions necessary to convert collagen to leather are currently discharged to waste. These are usually applied during bulk production, such as inorganic agents from beam house and tanning processes, e.g. lime, sulphide, ammonium salts, sulphuric acid and sodium chloride, mineral tanning agents – mainly Cr(III) and the less common Al(III), Zr(III), Ti(III), Fe(III) salts -, whereas depending on the tanning process and the leather article produced organic chemical waste discharged comprises aldehydic and polyphenolic tanning products, bating enzymes, organic carboxylic acids and excess electrolyte stable synthetic fat liquors. It is rare for chemicals and water to be recovered for re-use from several of these process steps. Moreover, tanners worldwide are required to operate within strict legislative boundaries. Serious drawbacks continuously arise concerning the chrome–tanning process in leather industry and the environmental hazardous consequences of chromium containing effluents. In order to overcome this impediment, a great deal of research has been focused on developing chrome–free tanning methods in the past years, such as titanium tanning. In the present study, Ti–Al tanned bovine leather was characterized by means of SEM microscopy, EDAX elemental analysis, ATR–FTIR spectroscopy, thermogravimetry TGA, and differential scanning calorimetry DSC techniques.

Keywords

• Bovine skin
• Tanning process
• Titanium
• Leathe
• ATR-FTIR
• SEM/EDAX