According to US designer and manufacturer of membrane cartridges and elements, as well as complete membrane systems Koch Membrane Systems Inc., two of India’s largest leather-tanning factories have installed its ultra-filtration and reverse osmosis membrane technologies to increase the amount of wastewater they can reuse during processing.

Eastern Chrome Tanning Corporation (ECTC) and N. M. Zackriah & Company Limited (NMZ), located in the city of Ambur, have installed wastewater recovery plants using the UF system with hollow fibre membranes and reverse osmosis (RO) with spiral membranes for more than one year. This region, within Tamil Nadu State, is one of India’s primary leather tanning regions, and is facing chronic water shortages.

Commenting on the advantages of using membranes to treat leather tanning wastewater, Samir Chaubal, Koch Membrane Systems Regional Sales Manager for India said, Hollow fibre UF membranes reduce SDI and turbidity and remove suspended solids in the pre-treated wastewater, thereby providing an ideal feed water for the downstream spiral RO system that removes most of the dissolved solids and small molecular weight organic components. As a result, the recovered wastewater is of a higher quality than is typically available as tap water for these factories.”