Gold rating for ISA Tan Tec in Vietnam
21/04/2011
He feels this statement has been justified by the results of a recent audit of the facility carried out on behalf of the Leather Working Goup, the multi-stakeholder group that assesses the environmental performance of tanneries and awards gold, silver and bronze status to those achieving the best results. Mr Schneider has said the audit conducted at his Vietnamese tannery awarded it Gold status and gave it especially good results in water and energy consumption. The tannery thus only requires 21.5 megajoules of energy for one square-metre of wet blue to finished leather produced, while according to the protocol of the Leather Working Group the industry average is 61 megajoules.
“The results of the audit confirm that we are exactly on target with our efficient resource management strategy. Using a variety of individual measures, we have managed to set a new industry standard for energy consumption,” said Mr Schneider.
These measures include the construction of a computer-controlled plant-based water purification system for industrial operations of this magnitude. The roots in the system currently purify up to 240,000 litres of waste water per day. The microorganisms reduce the COD value from 240 to 40 parts per million. At the same time, the nitrogen is converted into biomass. However, this does not end up in the compost pile, but becomes a climate-neutral fuel instead. ISA Tan Tec will generate some 150 tons of pellets in this way.
ISA Tan Tec saves 153,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year as a result of the plant-based water purification plant alone. A solar thermal plant also contributes to the company’s performance: it provides around 80% of the energy for heating the process water.
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