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Development and practical application of unhairing method without using sulfide

Content:
Leather manufacturing industry uses a lot of water and chemicals, and it discharges large amounts of wastewater. The processing a large amounts of wastewater requires a huge cost. Therefore, reduction of amount of a pollution load in wastewater is a theme in many countries around the world. During the leather process, a lot of pollutants occur in the unhairing process. Some estimate that the amount of pollution generated in the unhairing process accounts for 70% of the entire leather manufacturing process. In this unhairing process, usually a large amount of sulfide is used. Sulfide is known to generate hydrogen sulfide and cause damage to the drain pipe. In Tokyo, strict criteria are set for draining sulfide to sewers. Therefore, reducing the amount of sulfide used is an important task for tanner. In addition, since sulfide has no degreasing effect, a large amount of surfactant is required in the unhairing process. However, to reduce the cost and the load of the wastewater, it is also required to reduce the amount of the surfactant used. Furthermore, in recent years, the types of usable surfactants have also been limited. Therefore, development of a method of effectively removing hair loss and degreasing without using a sulfide is urgent for the leather manufacturing industry.
On the other hand, pelts are widely used as raw materials for foods such as gelatin and collagen casing, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. However, sulfides are not originally recognized as food additives. Therefore, some companies are concerned about using pelts as a raw material for food using sulfide in the unhairing process. Also from this point of view, it is necessary to develop an unhairing method without using sulfides.
The method using sodium hydroxide has been studied for a long time. However, this method is hard in handling, and is difficult to set conditions such as concentration and temperature. That is, while successful at the experimental level, it has not been put to practical use. Therefore, we studied a method to solve the above problem using sodium hydroxide.
The method developed this time can reduce the pollutant in waste water, and the amount of water used in the unhairing process to 1/10 or less of the conventional one. Moreover, since it is not influenced by water temperature, it made it possible to stably remove hair irrespective of the season. The finished leather kept sufficient strength. In addition, sodium hydroxide reacts with fat in the skin and turns it into soap, so it shows the degreasing effect and contributes to reduce the dosage of degreasing agent.
Take-Away:
development of unhairing method without using sulfide
contributes to reduce the dosage of degreasing agent
reduce the pollutant in waste water

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:34133
Date24 June 2019
CreatorsTakase, Kazuya, Terashima, M., Yoshimura, K.
ContributorsInternational Union of Leather Technologists and Chemists Societies
PublisherVerein für Gerberei-Chemie und -Technik e. V., Forschungsinstitut für Leder und Kunststoffbahnen (FILK) gGmbH
Source SetsHochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:conferenceObject, info:eu-repo/semantics/conferenceObject, doc-type:Text
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Relationurn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa2-340872, qucosa:34087

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