Evaluation of a new environment friendly tanning process

The aim of the present work is to develop a new tanning process (that we call Wet Bright) that produces perfectly white leather and meets all the requirements for automotive leather. What is obtained through this new process is a leather free of chromium, aldehydes, aldehyde precursors and organic solvents. This new system consists of the application of Tanfor T (TM) system (from Kemira), which is safe for both humans and the environment and is not classified as hazardous. When compared to existing traditional processes, namely chrome tanned leather (Wet-Blue) and aldehyde tanned leather (Wet-White), there are economic and environmental advantages resulting from the use of this new system. In this vein, this new process results in significant COD reductions. More specifically, the new system is an environmentally-friendly process since it reduces COD by 60%, suspended solids by 61%, and nitrogen by 65% compared with chromium tannage. In addition, Wet-Bright leathers present a reduction of 43% in volatile compounds versus Wet-White and a reduction of 8% versus Wet-Blue. And most importantly, wastewaters from this new system do not contain chromium. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.