Extraction of post-tanning chemicals from leather wastes

Date

2000-12

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Texas Tech University

Abstract

The disposal of leather scraps produced by the footwear industry is a difficult and expensive task due to their undesirable and adverse effects on the environment. It will be profitable for the shoe industry to convert this waste into value added products. This thesis investigated the feasibility of employing supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) technique in the pre treatment phase of gelatin extraction process (Taylors' Process). The current study had three experimental phases namely sample preparation, extraction of components from the sample and quantification of the extracted components. Three methods (one-step process, two-step process and modifier-assisted SFE process) were used in the extraction of components from leather samples. In the one-step process, the post-tanning chemicals were extracted using SFE. In the two-step process, Soxhlet extraction followed by SFE was employed in extracting the post-tanning chemicals. Preliminary SFE experiments were conducted to determine optimum extracting conditions for the extraction of post-tanning chemicals from leather scraps. The third method was similar to one-step process, except that instead of using carbon dioxide as extracting solvent modified carbon dioxide was used. The modifiers used were methanol and phenol. This research was able to introduce SFE as an option for extracting post-tanning chemicals from leather scraps by optimizing the extraction conditions and comparing the results with conventional Soxhlet extraction technique.

Description

Keywords

Leather chemicals, Leather industry and trade -- By-products, Supercritical fluid extraction

Citation