Saudi Arabian student steals the show at Freiberg Leather Days
22/06/2017
Originally from Saudi Arabia, Ms Alaysuy is in her third year of PhD studies in Leicester. At the conference, she spoke about her work on how deep eutectic solvents (DES) can be used in leather production.
She explained that she has spent time recently at the tannery that the University of Northampton runs as part of its Institute for Creative Leather Technologies putting her ideas to the test on materials including sheepskin. She evaluated the performance of DES in tanning, retanning, fatliquoring and dyeing.
Ms Alaysuy described DES as a mix of two simple salts that combine to form a liquid, with the combination of chlorine chloride and urea as an example. “The main concept is to place an active ingredient, with high concentration and low waste, inside the hide,” she explained. “We can take a piece of hide or skin, apply our mixture to the surface and see the hide absorb it with no apparent loss of the collagen structure.”
Obvious benefits include a large saving in water and a large reduction in the amount of effort and expense required to manage tannery waste.
Fielding a lengthy series of questions from the floor, Omaymah Alaysuy, assured delegates that the DES will not rinse out during processing and produces material with an attractive, soft touch. She also said using DES will not hinder the use of other important leather chemicals, including basifying agents.
She confirmed that work is ongoing to increase the shrinkage temperature of the hides and skins processed using DES, which is currently around 80 degrees Celsius compared to around 100 degrees Celsius for chrome-tanned leather produced in the traditional way.
A major leather chemicals firm told leatherbiz at the event that it had signed a non-disclosure agreement to work with the University of Northampton on deep eutectic solvents.
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