OCCASION This publication has been made available to the public on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation. DISCLAIMER This document has been produced without formal United Nations editing. The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries, or its economic system or degree of development. Designations such as “developed”, “industrialized” and “developing” are intended for statistical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgment about the stage reached by a particular country or area in the development process. Mention of firm names or commercial products does not constitute an endorsement by UNIDO. FAIR USE POLICY Any part of this publication may be quoted and referenced for educational and research purposes without additional permission from UNIDO. However, those who make use of quoting and referencing this publication are requested to follow the Fair Use Policy of giving due credit to UNIDO. CONTACT Please contact [email protected] for further information concerning UNIDO publications. For more information about UNIDO, please visit us at www.unido.org UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION Vienna International Centre, P.O. Box 300, 1400 Vienna, Austria Tel: (+43-1) 26026-0 · www.unido.org · [email protected] The framework for sustainable leather manufacture Jakov BULJAN, Ivan KRÁĽ UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION Copyright © 2015 by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. Materials in this paper may be freely quoted or reprinted, but acknowledgement is required, together with a copy of publication containing the quotation or reprint. The designations employed, descriptions and classifications of countries, and the presentation of the material in this report do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries, or its economic system or degree of development. The views expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views of the Secretariat of the UNIDO. The responsibility for opinions expressed rests solely with the authors, and publication does not constitute an endorsement by UNIDO. References to particular specialty chemicals or equipment do not represent any endorsement by UNIDO or preference over other similar products. Although great care has been taken to maintain the accuracy of information herein, neither UNIDO nor its Member States assume any responsibility for consequences which may arise from the use of the material. Terms such as “developed”, “industrialized” and “developing” are intended for statistical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgment. Any indication of, or reference to, a country, institution or other legal entity does not constitute an endorsement. Information contained herein may be freely quoted or reprinted but acknowledgement is requested. This report has been produced without formal United Nations editing. Acknowledgments: The information and views as well as tables, drawings, photos, etc. in this paper are primarily intended to serve as background material for UNIDO workshops in developing countries; it is also hoped that they will be used for developing a practical eLearning programme on cleaner tanning technologies. The data are drawn from the authors’ own experiences and several UNIDO papers, including in particular those dealing with desalting, hair-save liming, chrome management, benchmarking, OSH and effluent and treatment. Various data, information and views originating from IULTCS/IUE papers, EU BREF, C. Money, J.M. Salazar, M, Bosnić, M. Redwood, D. Tegtmeyer. T. Poncet, F. Schmel and other specialists and colleagues as well as from suppliers of specialty chemicals and equipment manufacturers are gratefully acknowledged. Special thanks to all individuals and companies who have responded to the UNIDO questionnaire. The document reflects a work in progress. In view of great need and interest for balanced information on the issues mentioned, the study is posted as a “Working paper” in its unedited form and before final scrutiny and proofreading. 1 Table of Contents PREFACE __________________________________________________________________ 1 1. INTRODUCTION ___________________________________________________________ 1 2. POLLUTION LOAD GENERATED BY CONVENTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES _________________ 1 2.1. General....................................................................................................................................................... 15 2.2. Some pollutants of specific impact ............................................................................................................. 18 3. TANNERY ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (EMS) ______________________ 20 3.1. General....................................................................................................................................................... 20 3.2. Building up your own EMS .......................................................................................................................... 22 3.3. Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................. 30 4. WATER MANAGEMENT ____________________________________________________ 31 4.1. Water saving strategies .............................................................................................................................. 32 4.2. Some practical examples of water saving measures ................................................................................... 33 4.2.1. Washing ...................................................................................................................................................... 33 4.2.2. Low/short float techniques ........................................................................................................................ 34 4.2.3. Recycling and water reuse .......................................................................................................................... 34 4.2.4. Reduction of unnecessary material ............................................................................................................ 35 4.2.5. Fleshing, vacuum dryers, finishing .............................................................................................................. 35 4.3. Water consumption targets ........................................................................................................................ 35 4.4. Rainwater management ............................................................................................................................. 36 4.5. Banned substances in tannery effluents ..................................................................................................... 37 5. RAW MATERIAL PRESERVATION, SALINITY _____________________________________ 38 5.1. Traditional preservation methods .............................................................................................................. 38 5.2. Alternative, more environmentally friendly preservation methods ............................................................ 40 5.2.1. Short-term preservation ............................................................................................................................. 40 5.2.2. Preservation with polyethylene glycol (PEG) .............................................................................................. 42 2 6. BEAMHOUSE _____________________________________________________________ 4 7. SOAKING ________________________________________________________________ 4 7.1. Cleaner methods in soaking........................................................................................................................ 48 7.1.1. Green fleshing ............................................................................................................................................. 48 7.1.2. Salt removal ................................................................................................................................................ 50 8. HAIR-SAVE UNHAIRING, LIMING _____________________________________________ 53 8.1. Liming with hair-burn unhairing ................................................................................................................. 53 8.2. Hair-save unhairing .................................................................................................................................... 53 8.2.1. Painting ....................................................................................................................................................... 55 8.2.2. Hair-save lime-sulphide unhairing .............................................................................................................. 56 8.2.3. Sirolime system (CSIRO, Australia) ............................................................................................................