How to Measure Efficiency of Chemical Uptake in Leather Manufacturing
Maximising chemical uptake during the leather making process is a good way to cut chemical costs and also minimise chemical loading in effluent, which can reduce discharge costs.
Simple calculations show that in many leather making processes, the uptake of chemistry in the material can be as low as 50-60%, meaning 40-50% of these expensive chemicals are being discharged to the environment as pollutants, which also comes at a cost to the leather manufacturer. It is important to remember that water pollutants are chemistries that have not been absorbed into the collagen or leather matrix; simply put, manufacturers are buying chemicals for the effluent plant, not for the leather they are making. The good news is that the efficiency of chemical processes can be measured in the factory environment, provided there is a good, basic, in-house laboratory facility.
At Eurofins | BLC, we have identified four techniques and metrics to do this which are available to Eurofins | BLC Members to download from the Member Toolkits section of this website.
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Article image credits: ITALPROGETTI
15 May 2019