Pioneer Solutions for Sustainable Leather Leather
Nature is part of our DNA Our planet faces unprecedented changes: constrained resources, increased pollution, overcrowding and climate changes. In a world of limited natural resources, Silvateam understands that sustainable innovations are fundamental to achieving profitable growth today that will not compromise its ability to succeed for decades to come. Innovation is not just about improving the products Silvateam makes. It is about how the company develops better ones, works with its customers and suppliers to develop markets that creates value and encourages the creation of new sustainable processes and products while guaranteeing the renewability of the raw materials. ECOTAN, pioneer solutions for sustainable leather In the leather industry, the awareness of environmental problems and the usage of harmful substances have increased considerably. During recent years, protecting and safeguarding the environment have become a global issue. In this respect Silvateam, thanks to its 160 years of history in vegetable extracts and its expertise in providing solutions on wet white tanning at low environmental impact, is fully committed to developing new products and technologies that meet this philosophy. Silvateam R&D laboratories have recently developed innovative solutions for sustainable leather, called Ecotan. These solutions allow the use of natural products or chemicals which have less impact on the environment and are substitutes for hazardous chemical products, while adding value and enhancing the beauty, softness and feel of leather. Ecotan includes sustainable technologies, such as vegetable tanning, chrome free and metal free leather systems, eco-design of chemicals and processes for low carbon footprint and the reduction of pollutants in waste waters. Silvateam has been producing leather chemicals from natural resources since 1854 and it knows what a long term sustainably run business means.
ECOTAN is vegetable tanning Vegetable tanning is the oldest, traditional, fashionable, chrome and metal free system where expert craftsmen produce high quality leathers combining knowledge, history, naturalness, beauty and advanced technology. Vegetable tanned leathers are produced using natural tannins. Tannins are gathered from many types of trees and plants and can be present either in the bark, leaves, wood or even in fruits / pods and roots. Only tannins are able to give tanned leathers these unique characteristics that make them the most natural and the most environmental-friendly. Silvateam produces a huge range of tannins such as Chestnut, Quebracho,Tara, Gambier and Myrabolan. Alongside these extracts, its R&D laboratories have developed innovative vegetable extracts based products. Thanks to continuous efficiency improvement and optimisation across its operations, Silvateam has created a new generation of chestnut extracts, Ritan XCR and Ritan NT, that combine the highest performance with a competitive price and Ormotan Auto, a modified tara tannin with good fastness properties. Ritan MM is a brand new vegetable extract which confers to leathers a lightpale rose colour, typical of mimosa, with improved light and heat fastness. Silvateam is a recognised market leader in the production of vegetable extracts. The company has been supporting Cuoio di Toscana and Vegetable Tanned Leather Consortiums in Italy for many years. Silvateam s product range can be used in all types of vegetable tanning systems: The traditional static pit-drum that takes place slowly in tanning pits and is finalised in drums; The rapid tannage carried out exclusively in drums; The innovative semi-rapid system that brings the advantages of the other two systems in terms of greater recycling of the vegetable tanning liquors giving a shorter production time. Pit-Drum Tannage Limed hides Deliming & pretanning drum Colouring pit Fresh extracts Fresh water Intermediate tanning pit Main tanning pit Tanning drum ph: 3.9 Bè: 16 T/nT: 2.2 Duration: 3 days Temp.: 38 C Tanned hides Drain ph: 5.5 Bè: 5.5 T/nT: 0.7 Duration: 24h ph: 4.6 Bè: 8.0 T/nT: 1.1 Duration: 4 days ph: 4.4 Bè: 11.0 T/nT: 1.4 Duration: 10-20 days Movement of pelt Movement of liquor
ECOTAN is chrome free leather Chrome is a frequent skin sensitiser and for those with chrome allergy, touching leather tanned with chrome may cause contact eczema, a rash which itches and persists for several days. Avoidance is the only long-term management strategy for chrome allergy. Moreover, on 26th March 2014, the European Union published a regulation to ban hexavalent chrome in leather articles, which will come into force on 1st May 2015. The restriction states that articles with leather parts, which come into contact with the skin, must not contain chrome (VI) to a level of 3 mg/kg or more. To meet consumers and tanneries requirements, Silvateam has recently developed an innovative chrome free system based on Blancotan CAT, a synthetic tannin with cationic properties, free from glutaraldehyde. As a result of its neutral ph, Blancotan CAT possesses a low astringency and, therefore, a good penetration into the leather. It s self-fixing property makes Blancotan CAT easy and safe to use. Pretanning leather with Blancotan CAT makes articles with excellent characteristics in terms of fullness, roundness, tightness and dyeability. It can be used to produce a large range of articles such as automotive products, shoe uppers and leather goods. ECOTAN is metal free leather New tanning methods go a step further and beyond chrome free tanning by removing all metals, while simultaneously achieving the highest level of quality, appearance and technical applications. Blancotan MSR is a synthetic tannin used for pretanning / tanning with a high tanning power, easy penetration and good dispersion that make it suitable for the production of wet white. The final leather shows an elastic grain, a soft feeling and a light colour. The pretannage with Blancotan MSR is recommended where the typical characteristics of vegetable tanned articles - firmness, roundness and tightness - are required such as for vacchetta, belts and soles. Ledosol XT is a special liquid pretanning agent that has very good dispersion and penetration properties in the leather fibres. A dosage of only 2-4% is required to manufacture very good leather that has a light, warm colour and good light fastness. These characteristics are especially needed for soft and light articles, like garments, car seats, light shoe uppers and leather goods. The absence of metals in Blancotan MSR and Ledosol XT improves the quality of the effluents produced by the tanning process and of residues at the end of the life of leather articles. These solutions answer the requests from some fashion houses to definitively ban metals from leather.
ECOTAN is a high exhaustion tanning processes Exhaustion of Chrome Floats at the End of Tannage 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 = 7% Chrome 2 = 5% Chrome - 2% Blancotan CAT 3 = 3.5% Chrome - 3.5% Blancotan CAT 4 = 2% Chrome - 5% Blancotan CAT 5 = 1% Chrome - 6% Blancotan CAT 6 = Distilled water 1 2 3 4 5 1 3 A combination of chrome salts and Blancotan CAT during tannage achieves a higher exhaustion of chromium oxide compared to using only chrome. Today, 80-90% of leathers in the world are tanned with chrome. The lower the amount of chrome used in the tanning process, the lower the possibility of the formation of hexavalent chrome in the finished leather article. The increasing requirements of producing safer chrome leathers in a sustainable way have led Silvateam to develop a new technology that allows the customer to: Increase the fixation of chrome oxide to the leather fibres; Minimise the use of chrome salts in the tanning processes; Reduce the chrome content in wastewaters. The latest solution at Silvateam consists of an innovative hybrid tannage using a combination of chrome salts and Blancotan CAT, a new syntan based on a dihydroxydiphenyl - sulphone condensation product. Moreover, Silvateam has developed a semi-rapid vegetable tanning process with high exhaustion. The new approach to the conventional pickle enables a full exhaustion of vegetable tanning baths to be used within an acid pickle system that completely eliminates the need for salt. From this starting point, it is possible to make a vegetable tannage in a relatively short time and with minimal damage to the grain due to mechanical action. The residual liquor from the tannage can be recycled until there is complete uptake of the tannins by the hides. Semi-rapid Tannage with High Exhaustion Limed hides Sewage Pre-tanning drum ph: 3.9 Bè: 16 T/nT: 2.2 Duration: 3 days Temp.: 38 C Tanning drum ph: 3.9 Bè: 16 T/nT: 2.2 Duration: 3 days Temp.: 38 C Fresh extracts Fresh water Tanned hides Salt free Pre-colouring Liquor ph: 4.0 Bè: 10.0-11.0 T/nT: <0.05 Colouring Liquor ph: 4,0 Bè: 10.0-11.0 T/nT: 0.1-0.3 Duration: 10-20 days Main tanning Liquor ph: 4.0 Bè: 17.0 T/nT: 1.1-2.0 Movement of pelt Movement of liquor
ECOTAN is eco-design of chemicals and tanning processes for a low carbon footprint Preventing damage to the environment has become a way of life for many people, with zero waste, sustainable living and carbon footprint (CFP) reduction becoming common goals in households and businesses. Silvateam is the first chemical company that started the procedure for the definition of environmental product declaration category rules to calculate the carbon footprint for leather chemicals (EPD International, June 2014). The carbon footprint analysis has been conducted on natural and synthetic agents. Preliminary results have shown that natural tannins have a much lower impact compared to other chemicals based on mineral raw materials. Moreover, the use of vegetable tannins is actually a net absorber of carbon from the atmosphere. In this way, if a leather user establishes a recycling cycle for its leathers, vegetable tanning can actually become a net absorber of carbon dioxide, turning to negative the CFP of leather. In Silvateam research and application laboratories, skilled chemists and experienced leather technicians continuously search for quality improvements and environmentally friendly innovations that support the sustainability of its customers. Silvateam has recently reassessed the environmental impact of the production of some of its main vegetable extracts, and the results have established once again how the forests actually benefit from the cycle of extraction in place. Furthermore, in order to reduce fuel consumption, Silvateam uses the biomass resulting from the tannin extraction in the production of thermal and electrical energy for internal consumption. Also derived from these eco-resources, Silvateam manufactures wooden pellets which are free from chemical additives, bleaching and binding agents. Silvateam has been respecting the environment without any compromise since its foundation. The company will continue to work actively in reducing the carbon footprint of its products and co-operate with its customers in the eco-design of low impact tanning processes of the industry value chain.
www.silvateam.com Leather Food Ingredients Animal Nutrition Industrial Processing Renewable Energy Natural Resins Silvachimica S.r.l. Via Torre, 7-12080 S. Michele Mondovì (Cn) Italy Tel. +39 0174 220111 - Fax +39 0174 220373 Email: tan@silvateam.com