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About AAQTIC

3rd National Technical Symposium of the Tanning Industry

Buenos Aires, November 30, 2010. AAQTIC, Argentine Leather Industry Chemists and Technicians Association held the 3rd National Technical Symposium of the Tanning Industry on November 25-26 at Paseo La Plaza, Corrientes 1660, City of Buenos Aires.
The Symposium was aimed at technicians in the tanning industry, and also at other people interested in the subject, for the purpose of providing an update on the most recent progress made in this area.
The Symposium included original works for Argentina, presented by companies, chemical or otherwise, research centers and tanneries, among others.
The works dealt with tanning processes, controls, raw materials, by-products and issues related to other links of the value chain of leather, such as leather supply from cold storage facilities and design of leather items.
Five works were presented orally, and 4 via poster. There were other activities such as a Round Table on tanning effluents; an invited guest Lecture and a Monograph Contest for younger techinicians.
At the end of this newssheet you will find a summary of the works presented. This 3rd Symposium also included the participation of institutions and some companies that gave us an update, as well as press media of the sector, which offered their publications; such activities created, along with the posters, an external space supplementary to the lecture room; other companies, specifically businesses in the supplying chemical sector, participated by sponsoring the event in different manners; the social aspect was addressed at the opening cocktail on Thu 25: this shows the meeting point character of the sector already attained by the Tanning Symposium.
More than 150 people took part in the event, including professionals, technicians and businesspersons; it was a perfect opportunity to invite technicians with tanneries in different Argentine provinces. We should note that, despite the national character of the meeting, colleagues from other countries, such as Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, and a guest lecturer from Germany, were also present.

The 3rd National Technical Symposium of the Tanning Industry is organized by AAQTIC in order to build a space for exchange similar to that usually found in a Conference, but narrowed down to the national level, which would be held every two years as an important part of AAQTIC’s activities. The first two Symposia, held in 2006 and 2008, also included the participation of technicians and professionals.

Summary of Presentations 3rd National Technical Symposium of the Tanning Industry

BEAMHOUSE PROCESSES WITH LOW ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT.
Klaus Lucae. BASF S. A. Brazil
This work provides a summary of alternatives currently available, activities on current processes that are likely to be optimized and activities that significantly reduce the environmental impact of beamhouse and tanning processes.
1) It focuses on product substitution in processes aimed at reducing the use of chemical products carrying a higher degree of environmental impact, that is: use of easily biodegradable tensoactives. Processes with low sulphide offer and amine-free, total substitution of ammonium sulphate during the deliming process.
2) Review of the bath recycling techniques based on the notion of reducing water consumption and turning the riverside into a semi-closed circuit with a very low daily effluent flow rate for treatment.

MAGNESIUM OXIDE: A FORGOTTEN CHEMICAL SPECIALTY.
Marcelo Fraga de Sousa. Buckman
The use of magnesium oxide as a basifying agent in the tanning process is a highly disseminated practice. The role of this product and how important it is to finish chrome tanning are undisputable and well-known facts. However, the tanning industry is not so familiar with important characteristics of magnesium oxide and the process leading to its obtainment. The granulometric distribution and surface area of the particles are important to determine the product reactivity and, consequently, are highly relevant to its application as a basifying agent.
The main purpose of this work was to supply Tanners with information to help them optimize the tanning process control.

  INFLUENCE OF AUXILIARY PRODUCTS IN MIMOSA TANNING
Eng. M. Lorenzo (1), Eng. J. C. Karachov (2), Dr. R. Palop (2) and Dr. P. E. A. Rodríguez (1)
1. Center for Excellence in Products and Processes of Cordoba, CEPROCOR, Cordoba’s Ministry of Science and Technology.
2. Tanning laboratory, Units Sudamericana S.A.
Tanning and re-tanning with vegetal products are widely used processes.
This study assesses the influence of three types of products, that is, salt of naphthalene sulfonic acid, salt of phenol polymer and salt of diphenyl sulphona, in the physical and organoleptic characteristics of leather tanned and/or retanned with mimosa and different amounts of such auxiliary products.
1) Tanning on pickel leather and at a small scale (pieces), assessing the tanning capacity at different concentrations.
2)  Application on pre-tanned leather and at higher scales (flanks) with a specific formulation for leather goods, where only the use of mimosa is compared with variables where the abovementioned auxiliary products are added.
The possibilities of application are determined on a case-by-case basis.

TESTS FOR DIRT RESISTANCE AND CLEANING ABILITY OF CAR UPHOLSTERY LEATHER
Lic. P. Casey, Tca. S. Metz and Eng. G. Altobelli.
Curtiembres Fonseca S.A. – Buenos Aires – Argentina
     In the last years, high resistance to dirt and suitable cleaning ability have become part of the most important requirements in car upholstery.
High quality car upholstery is no longer completely black or dark grey; designers have turned their preferences towards lighter colors.
           
This work describes the main methods used by car companies to measure resistance to dirt, the degree of dirt before and after cleaning with different products and, consequently, the impact of such processes on the original properties of leather.
 
CUSTOMIZATION AND ECO-FRIENDLY SOCIAL DESIGN APPLIED TO FINISHED LEATHER. NEW COMMERCIALIZATION STRATEGIES AND CHANGE IN PARADIGMS FOR THE TANNING INDUSTRY.
Leandra Vallejos Martin. Universidad Nacional del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Pergamino.
The new millennium has brought a change in the paradigm regarding the reorganization of the industrial sector. The industry’s sustainability will be the forthcoming radical change, that is: making exclusive and customized products, with a high design, originality and creativity quality.
The purpose of this trial is to make this new social paradigm known, in order to apply it to the tanning industry, with a high value of innovation and creativity.

  GUEST LECTURE: Report on the activities of the IUR Commission. Reference was also made to Green Chemical Products and Sustainable Tanning
Dr. Dietrich Tegtmeyer (Lanxess)
President of the Research Commission (IUR) of the International Union of Leather Technologists and Chemists Societies (IULTCS).

There were explanations on how to obtain the “certification” for research projects of the IUR Commission of the IULTCS,  and the state of such process.
There was a review of environmental needs, the idea of sustainability as applied to the leather industry, the requirements a product must meet to be considered a “green” product and the importance of sustainability for trademarks.
It was concluded that chemical companies should interact with trademarks, organizations, certification or labeling processes so as to promote leather as a sustainable material.

CYANIDE IN EFFLUENTS
ROUND TABLE: SOME ASPECTS OF THE CURRENT PROBLEM OF TANNING EFFLUENTS
Panelists: Eng. Martín Gelaf; Eng. María Inés Iribarne; Eng. Jorge Garda; Dr. Horacio González; Dr. Carlos Gotelli
Moderator: Lic. Patricia  Casey
This round table deals with the problems occurring in 2010, when cyanide concentration values in effluents from tanneries turned out to be higher than permitted.
There was a review of cyanide types, of the test techniques employed, of any possible interference, of products employed in tannery that may have a positive response, and the operations that may cause cyanide to occur in effluents.

 
Poster headings

FUNGAL PROTEOLYTIC ENZYMES: CONSIDERATIONS ON THE INCREASE IN THEIR PRODUCTION
Cavello I1,2, Galarza B1,2, Gortari MC1, Cavalitto, S1, Hours R1, Cantera C 2
1.- CINDEFI (UNLP; CCT-La Plata, CONICET). 
2.- Inti - Leather; CICBA.
Two fungi strains were selected and a study was conducted on the influence of additions on growth and performance in different media. It was concluded that:
The culture in a solid medium and the addition of reducing agents boost the production of keratinolytic enzymes, increasing their chances of being employed in leather processes, as well as in the degradation of solid tanning waste. Furthermore, they can also be applied in other industries.

TREATMENT AND ASSESSMENT OF THE UNHAIRING RESIDUAL BATH
Mariana I. Lorenzo*, Ana C. Figueroa, Bibiana A. Marino,  R. Kiyomi Mizutamari, Pablo E. A. Rodríguez
Center for Excellence in Products and Processes of Cordoba, CEPROCOR
The purpose of this work was to determine the best conditions to assess effluents from unhairing through the removal of sulphur and other contaminants, and the subsequent recovery of muds and proteins of the same.
The most widely used technique in tanneries to remove sulphur is oxidation, using oxygen as an oxidizing agent. This process poses some difficulties.
The study is based on sulphur oxidation using ozone gas with manganese sulphate as a catalyst.
The results indicate that around 6-7 hours are required to oxidize the sulphur from the unhairing residual bath.  On the other hand, 150 g. of muds/solids and 40 g. of hair flour were obtained per liter of residual bath.
This is an environmental advantage, given the reduction of the contaminant load of the effluent discharged to the receiving bodies, as well as an economic advantage, given the transformation of contaminants into useful by-products.

  EVOLUTION OF THE PRESENCE OF TANNERIES IN THE CITY OF BUENOS AIRES, PART II
d’Avis, Dolores; Dorfman, Guillermo; Salvador, Claudio; Vergara, Jorge
This work provides an insight into the location of tanneries in each town of the city of Buenos Aires in different time periods, and the production model they adopted.
Thus, the successive stages in which tanneries were located in the City of Buenos Aires, regarding how the urban area gained ground, the change in the production model at the turn of the 19th century and the displacement of slaughtering houses, a source of raw materials, are characterized.
 
ECONOMIC PARTICIPATION OF LEATHER IN THE VALUE OF LIVESTOCK.
Claudio Salvador. Germán Gekdyszman.(1)
 (1) Coto C.I.C.S.A.
Analysis within a mid-term period of the economic participation of leather regarding the value of livestock; the variation is quite broad, with peaks of 18% and 2%; the analysis of the variation of each component, leather, and animal in relation to the economic circumstances (devaluation, global crisis, decrease in slaughtering) accounts for these variations.