Lanxess unveils new wet end technology at IULTCS Congress
26/06/2007
Dr Dietrich Tegtmeyer, head of Product Development & Application
at German chemicals supplier Lanxess’ Leather business unit, presented a new process for upgrading leathers with structural defects such as looseness at the IULTCS world conference in Washington, USA, on June 23.
The product, which will be launched under the name Levotan X-Cel, consists of a special polymer containing thermally expandable microcapsules which is added during the retanning process.
The microcapsules penetrate into the fibre structure with the polymer where they expand and selectively fill areas of loose structure and voids, such as blood vessels, in the leather thereby providing a fuller and more uniform structure.
Commenting on the new technology, Dr Tegtmeyer said, "Levotan X-Cel is an ingenious combination of chemistry and physics which is ideal for leather. Having conducted numerous trials with the new technology in our technical service centre, we are now ready to introduce it to the leather industry."
The company now plans to install pilot plants for processing ‘X-Cel leathers’ in its laboratories in each geographical region so that it can carry out initial trials on customers’ material in situ and the next step will be to develop production-scale processing plants that correspond to tannery requirements as regards size and speed. This will be done in collaboration with the Italian machine manufacturers Fratelli Carlessi S.p.A. The process will then be ready for launching on the market.
Commenting on the new technology, Dr Tegtmeyer said, "Levotan X-Cel is an ingenious combination of chemistry and physics which is ideal for leather. Having conducted numerous trials with the new technology in our technical service centre, we are now ready to introduce it to the leather industry."
The company now plans to install pilot plants for processing ‘X-Cel leathers’ in its laboratories in each geographical region so that it can carry out initial trials on customers’ material in situ and the next step will be to develop production-scale processing plants that correspond to tannery requirements as regards size and speed. This will be done in collaboration with the Italian machine manufacturers Fratelli Carlessi S.p.A. The process will then be ready for launching on the market.
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