review · Advances in Materials Science and Engineering
Leather processing generates significant employment, economic revenue, and valuable commodities by using by-products from the meat sector. However, the industry carries a red-marked environmental status because of hazardous solid, liquid, and gaseous waste released across its unit operations. Multiple cleaner production strategies have been identified to alleviate these environmental burdens. In curing, utilising plant extracts alongside sodium chloride-free preservation eliminates effluent salinity and reduces total dissolved solids by 70 percent. Integrating enzymes during soaking and unhairing accelerates processing, lowers chemical oxygen demand, biochemical oxygen demand, and total dissolved solids, and outperforms conventional techniques. Furthermore, cleaner alternatives for pickling and tanning involve saltless and waterless pickling using non-swelling acid, paired with chrome-free tanning methods. These interventions systematically mitigate conventional processing impacts from raw hide curing through to final tanning.
Leather manufacturing is an important global industry that repurposes meat industry by-products, but traditional methods release severe chemical pollutants into water systems. Identifying and deploying cleaner alternatives, such as plant-based curing, enzymatic processing, and chrome-free tanning, helps lower hazardous industrial effluents, cut down water contamination, and support more sustainable manufacturing practices without sacrificing operational performance.
The reviewed technologies could enable commercial tanneries and leather chemical manufacturers to adopt greener processing inputs. Potential applications include plant-derived preservatives, industrial enzyme formulations for unhairing, and non-swelling acids for waterless pickling. The abstract presents these approaches as reviewed and investigated alternatives, indicating they range from applied research to tested industry options, though precise development stages for each unit operation are not detailed.
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Although the leather processing industry is vital in terms of employment creation, revenue generation, consumption of by‐products from the meat industry, and the production of the valuable commodity called leather, the industry is considered “red marked” due to the discharge of solid, liquid, and gaseous wastes from each unit operation. In addition, different cleaner production options were investigated to mitigate the negative effects of the leather industries. Cleaner options in curing were mostly focused on the use of plant extracts and the sodium chloride‐free preservation method, which eliminates the salinity and 70% TDS of the discharged water. The application of enzymes in the soak and unhairing facilitates the operation, reduces COD, BOD, and TDS in the effluent, and yields better results than the conventional method. Saltless and waterless pickling with nonswelling acid and chrome‐free tanning was considered cleaner options for pickling with salts and conventional tanning methods. This article provides an in‐depth analysis and review of conventional leather processing, hazardous chemicals in each unit operation, the environmental impact of conventional operations from curing to tanning, and cleaner leather production approaches in each unit operation.
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DOI: 10.1155/2024/8117915
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