Ferraris Sara, Gamna Francesca, Luxbacher Thomas, Maculotti Giacomo, Giorio Lorenzo, Kholkhujaev Jasurkhuja, Genta Gianfranco, Galetto Maurizio, Sarnataro Andrea, Nogarole Marco, Florio Claudia
Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy.
Anton Paar GmbH, Graz, Austria.
Sci Rep. 2025 Mar 27;15(1):10608. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-94531-y.
Leather is a fully biobased material (100% biodegradable organic material, with collagen as the main constituent), derived from food industry byproducts (animal skin from butchery), which represents an excellence for the Italian industry (in the last years the production value reached 4.6 billion euros and an export of 3.2 billion euros) and a highly sustainable material. However, its production is still strongly handicraft, traditional and unfortunately based on the employment of toxic chemicals, such as chromium and glutaraldehyde. A deep knowledge of the tanning process and of the specific features of leather coming from different processing routes is crucial for the design and development of innovation in the field for a more sustainable and knowledge-based production. In this contest, the impact of tanning process on the surface reactivity of leather plays a crucial role. In the present research well established characterizations (optical microscopy, shrinkage temperature, wettability, metal content, infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction) and new and unconventional methods for the leather field (surface topography, instrumented indentation and zeta potential electrokinetic measurements) were applied and optimized for the characterization of leather samples from traditional (e.g. Chrome and Glutaraldehyde) and innovative (e.g. vegetable, carbamoyl sulphate, starch, aluminum, zeolite, triazine and Olive Mill Wastewaters -OMW) tanning processes. The suitability of the characterization protocol for the in-depth investigation and comparison of leather samples from different processing has been demonstrated highlighting its applicability for a knowledge-based innovation in the leather field.
皮革是一种完全基于生物的材料（100%可生物降解的有机材料，以胶原蛋白为主要成分），源自食品工业副产品（屠宰场的动物皮），这对意大利工业来说是一项卓越成就（近年来产值达到46亿欧元，出口额为32亿欧元），也是一种高度可持续的材料。然而，其生产仍严重依赖手工、传统方式，不幸的是还基于有毒化学品的使用，如铬和戊二醛。深入了解鞣制过程以及来自不同加工路线的皮革的具体特性，对于该领域更可持续和基于知识的生产创新的设计与开发至关重要。在这种情况下，鞣制过程对皮革表面反应性的影响起着关键作用。在本研究中，应用并优化了成熟的表征方法（光学显微镜、收缩温度、润湿性、金属含量、红外光谱和X射线衍射）以及皮革领域新的非常规方法（表面形貌、仪器化压痕和zeta电位电动测量），以表征来自传统（如铬鞣和戊二醛鞣）和创新（如植鞣、氨基甲酰硫酸盐鞣、淀粉鞣、铝鞣、沸石鞣、三嗪鞣和橄榄油厂废水鞣 - OMW）鞣制工艺的皮革样品。已证明该表征方案适用于深入研究和比较不同加工的皮革样品，突出了其在皮革领域基于知识的创新中的适用性。
