Abstract
The proposed amendment of the German regulation for the treatment of tannery wastewaters (ATV-DVWK-M774-proposal 2015) emphasizes minimization of the pollution burden before treatment (inflow) [1]. Current regulations are directed towards setting limits to what may leave an ETP (outflow). The new provisions, on the other hand, demand that a verifiable reduction of the polluting load is realized before the water enters the treatment system. An absolute decrease at the level of individual components requires the measurement of these components for a starting point. This paper discusses the ways of expressing the exhaustion of a selection of fatliquors on chrome and chrome-free leathers. Each product has a specific affinity to the tanned hide and an individual environmental imprint. This specificity can be used for targeted reduction of the inflowing pollution burden. The findings of the study can act as a starting point for setting up an own methodology and a detailed level of reporting for all who need to understand a fatliquor's true affinity towards the leather and those who endeavor to minimize the environmental impact of their processing.
Highlights
In the leather manufacturing process, raw hides undergo a series of pre-treatments that may include soaking, fleshing, unhairing, liming, lime splitting, deliming, bating, degreasing and pickling before the cleaned and altered collagen structure enters the tanning stage
Fatliquors of a lower exhaustion percentage on w/b without exception show inferior exhaustion percentages to varying degrees when applied on w/w
Fatliquors to the greatest extent consist of organic compounds
Summary
In the leather manufacturing process, raw hides undergo a series of pre-treatments that may include soaking, (green) fleshing, unhairing, liming, lime splitting, deliming, bating, degreasing and pickling before the cleaned and altered collagen structure enters the tanning stage. The main component of skin in such a way that renders it resistance to heat and microorganism attack, which can be generally characterized by rises in the hydrothermal stability (shrinkage temperature) of the material. For further modification of the leather properties, tanning is followed by retanning, dyeing and fatliquoring. Retanning modifies and improves the leather structure while dyeing gives the desired colour. Fatliquoring is the treatment of leather with emulsified oils to give it lasting softness after it has been dried [2, 3, 4, 5]. As a result considerable amounts of wastewater are generated, demanding high investment and operational costs for effluent treatment to satisfy the discharge standards required by environmental legislation [8]
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