Water-replacement technology firm announces deal with major leather chemicals player
01/05/2015
Yorkshire-based Xeros Technology Group said at the end of April that it had agreed a joint development programme with Lanxess “to advance the application of Xeros’ polymer bead cleaning technology in the leather processing industry”.
Xeros has developed for the leather industry a process similar to one it already uses in the commercial laundry business. The company is a spin-off from the University of Leeds’ textile department. It started out in 2006 and has focused on laundry systems until now. The basis for its proposal to the leather industry is that “the majority of water and chemistry used in leather processing is replaced by high-performance polymer beads”.
Trials the company has carried out at the University of Northampton’s Institute for Creative Leather Technologies have given Xeros confidence that its process can allow tanners to produce high-quality leather while reducing their environmental impact, water usage and effluent treatment demands.
It said in a statement that issued to the London Stock Exchange, Xeros said the joint development programme will be “multi-phase” and will aim to “enable the processing of high-quality leather on a commercial and scaleable basis”. It said the partners intend to have a prototype on trial in a tannery environment in the second half of 2015.
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