Water Management in Leather Industry

Abstract

Leather industry, like paper and textile industries, consumes large quantities of water. Such excessive usage, resulting from adoption of traditional processing methods and equipments, lead to acute water availability and effluent treatment problems. Presently, about 30 billion litres of water is being used by this industry annually. A systematic study made at CLRI to reduce the excessive usage and further minimise water consumption in leather processing through optimisation and recycle and reuse strategies. The role of newer equipments, such as the hide processor and the compartmental drum in minimising water usage in leather processing has also been studied extensively. Most of the protocols standardised at CLRI were implemented at select tanneries in India and Sri Lanka, which resulted in better water management in the leather processing industry. The results of such detailed studies have been incorporated in the paper.