Abstract
Increased concern over the use of metal salts such as chromium, zirconium, and aluminum for tanning of hides and skins has made the leather production industry to be constantly on the lookout for organic tanning agents in place of the inorganic system. Though glutaraldehyde has been looked at as a viable option, it still lags in imparting superior strength properties to the leather and also it has been reported to have inherent toxicity. With that concept in view, this research work focuses on the usage of glyoxal along with synthetic tanning agents as a replacement for glutaraldehyde and other inorganic tanning systems. The offer level and starting pH for the glyoxal tanning process was optimized as 6% (w/w) and 5.0, respectively, and the shrinkage temperature of the collagen was found to be around 80 °C. Additionally, the controlled shrunken grain effect of the aldehyde tanning system was explored by changing the pH of the process, which helped to improve the thickness of low-grade thinner raw materials by up to 40%. The mechanism for the shrunken grain effect has also been proposed in this work by studying the dimensional changes occurring in the leather matrix upon treating skin/hide with glyoxal at different pH levels. The mechanical and strength properties of the leather were found to be better than the glutaraldehyde tanning system. The BOD/COD ratio of wastewater generated from the glyoxal process was found to be greater than 0.3 making them easily treatable. Considering all these factors, compact glyoxal-based tanning along with synthetic tanning agents can be a game-changing technology for the leather processing industry.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Mr. V. Karthik, Regional Centre, CLRI, Jalandhar for the fruitful discussions about the industrial practices in leather production and for evaluating the organoleptic properties of the leathers made during the research work (CSIR-CLRI communication number: 1616).
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The authors would like to thank Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-MLP11-RIEES (Research Initiatives for Ensuring Environmental and Economic Sustainability) for providing funds to carry out this research work.
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RRR designed the work, interpreted the results of experiments, and drafted the manuscript. MP carried out the leather tanning trials and wastewater analysis. AR and SR reviewed the results and revised the draft manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Ramesh, R.R., Ponnuvel, M., Ramalingam, S. et al. Compact glyoxal tanning system: a chrome-free sustainable and green approach towards tanning-cum-upgradation of low-grade raw materials in leather processing. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 35382–35395 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-18660-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-18660-x