Physical Characteristics of Environmentally Friendly Goat Leather Using Powder of Merbau Tree as A Tanning Agent

Abstract

The leather industry in Indonesia still largely uses chemical substances such as chromium sulfate as the main agent in the tanning process. Tanning is one of the processes of converting raw animal hides into leather that can be used for various products such as bags, shoes, and clothes. Goat leather is one of the conventional leather preferences that has gained increasing consumer interest in recent years. The increasing awareness of the negative impact of chromium tanning agents on workers’ health and environmental pollution has led some leather industries in Indonesia to shift towards vegetable tanning instead of chemical ones. This study examined the use of the Merbau powder that from Merbau wood as an environmentally friendly tanning agent. There are three treatments of goat leathers with three variations of Merbau powder as a tanning agent. Treatment A (Merbau powder with 1.5% tannin), Treatment B (Merbau powder with 2.5% tannin), and Treatment C (Merbau powder with 3.5% tannin). The quality of tanned goat leather was measured by the physical characteristics test: tensile strength, tear strength, and shrinkage temperature. The results show that leather goat leather with the addition of the merbau powder as a tanning agent has tensile strength and tear strength which meets the SNI requirement for footwear leather products. The shrinkage temperature test showed that Merbau-tanned goat leather needs to be more mature compared to the control.