Studies on waterless tanning An approach for sustainable leather manufacture

Abstract

Leather industry is continuously evolving to adopt greener technologies to minimize the risk factors on eco system and also to maintain the statutory environmental norms Although some Best Available Technologies BATs are in practice at commercial scale to address the current issues associated with leather industry there is a need for alternative technologies to fulfill the future demand such as reduction of water time and energy consumption The present leather manufacturing system consumes huge amount of water 30 50 L kg of hides skins which is mainly due to do undo process logic dehydration rehydration liming deliming and acidification basification and lack of inter connectivity between one process to another It is estimated that by 2025 about 1 8 billion people are expected to face water scarcity Water saving is imperative in all industrial activities for the sustainable eco system hence there is an urgent need to develop technologies which implements reduction in water usage In this direction the present work aims to develop waterless technology for sustainable leather manufacturing Reports on non aqueous tanning systems show 100 utilization of tanning auxiliaries and zero wastewater discharge However the methodologies employed for non aqueous tanning systems are neither environment friendly nor economically feasible Hence identifying a green solvent and subsequent implementation in leather manufacturing would help to develop a sustainable waterless tanning system newline