Department of Materials and Energy Science and Engineering, The Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology, P. O. Box 447, Arusha, Tanzania; Division of Textile and Leather Technology, Tanzania Industrial Research and Development Organization (TIRDO), P. O. Box 23235, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Department of Environmental Planning, Institute of Rural Development Planning (IRDP), P.O. Box 138, Dodoma, Tanzania.
Chemosphere. 2020 Sep;254:126804. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.126804. Epub 2020 Apr 18.
Chrome tanning remains the most favourite technology in the leather industry worldwide due to its ability to produce leather with attributes desirable for high-quality leather such as excellent hydrothermal stability, better dyeing characteristics and softness. Nevertheless, the technology has been censured globally for its severe environmental detriments and adverse effects on human health and other organisms. Developing alternative eco-friendly tanning technologies capable of producing leather of high quality has remained a challenging scientific inquiry. This review article provides an assessment of various eco-friendly tanning attempts geared towards improving or replacing the chrome technology without compromising the quality of the produced leather. The reviewed publications have ascertained that, these attempts have been centred on recycling of spent liquors; chromium exhaustion enhancement and total replacement of chromium salts. The research gaps and levels of key environmental pollutants from the reviewed technologies are presented, and the qualities of the leather produced from these technologies are highlighted. Of all the examined alternative technologies, total replacement of chromium salts sounds ideal to elude adverse effects associated with chrome tanning. Combination tanning, which implies blending two tanning agents that individually cannot impart desired properties to the leather, is anticipated to be an alternative technology to chrome tanning. Apart from being an eco-friendly technology, combination tanning produces leather with similar features to those produced by chrome tanning. In this regard, blending vegetable tannins with aluminium sulphate provides a promising chrome-free tanning technology. However, further studies to optimize combination tanning technologies to suit industrial applications are highly recommended.
由于其能够生产出具有高品质皮革所需属性的皮革，例如出色的热稳定性、更好的染色特性和柔软度，铬鞣法仍然是全球皮革行业最受欢迎的技术。然而，由于该技术对环境造成严重破坏，对人类健康和其他生物产生不利影响，因此在全球范围内受到谴责。开发能够生产出高质量皮革的替代环保鞣制技术仍然是一项具有挑战性的科学研究。本文对各种环保鞣制尝试进行了评估，这些尝试旨在改进或取代铬鞣技术，而不影响所生产皮革的质量。综述的文献证实，这些尝试集中在对废鞣液的回收利用、提高铬的利用率以及完全替代铬盐上。本文还介绍了从已审查技术中产生的关键环境污染物的研究差距和水平，并强调了这些技术生产的皮革的质量。在所有检查过的替代技术中，完全替代铬盐听起来是避免与铬鞣相关的不利影响的理想选择。组合鞣制，即混合两种单独不能赋予皮革所需特性的鞣剂，预计将成为铬鞣的替代技术。除了是一种环保技术外，组合鞣制还能生产出具有类似于铬鞣皮革特征的皮革。在这方面，将植物鞣剂与硫酸铝混合提供了一种有前途的无铬鞣制技术。然而，强烈建议进一步研究以优化组合鞣制技术以适应工业应用。
