Clariant aims to set new industry standard
01/11/2010
Specialty chemicals company Clariant has announced a new tanning process called Easy White Tan, based on its Granofin Easy F-90 product. The company has said the new technology will make the tanning process leaner, cleaner and safer than ever before, with the use of salt no longer necessary.
Granofin Easy F-90 is an organic compound that is free from metal, aldehyde, formaldehyde and phenol. Its self-reactive hybrid performance means that the usual basification process in tanning and the earlier pickle stage can be completely eliminated, according to Clariant. It says the use of Granofin Easy F-90 does away with the need to add any extra salt into the tanning process, commonly introduced at the conventional pickle stage to avoid swelling in the hides. This means that there is a significant reduction in chlorides and sulphates in tannery wastewater. This will be welcomed by the industry, as it means less corrosion within the tannery, and especially welcomed by those who are already processing green hides to avoid one of the main sources of salt within the tannery.
The company says that EasyWhite Tan can reduce production time by at least six hours. It also reduces waste, and any waste that is generated is inert in the environment and has no inhibitory effect on micro-organism activity.
By eliminating the basification and pickle stages and focusing only on tanning, EasyWhite Tan not only generates considerable savings in time and reduced chemical usage, it also lessens the opportunities for error, makes handling easier and safer and provides for greater production stability and consistency.
“Tanning systems are usually divided into two main streams—metal and metal free—and both have their positives and negatives. Excluding vegetable tannins, the most used metal-free systems are based on glutaraldehyde or phosphonium salts (THPS),” explains Claus Reineking, head of wet end chemicals at Clariant’s leather services business unit. “We wanted to develop an improved metal-free system, a wet white tanning process that would do away with the problematical aspects of current wet white tanning. Granofin Easy F-90 is the answer. It provides a simplified and more stable production than the current known processes.”
As the global leather sector continues to improve its environmental credentials, Clariant believes its EasyWhite Tan will be seen as helping the industry “set a new benchmark in responsible practice”.
The February-March 2011 issue of World Leather will carry a detailed technical article on the new system.
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