Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Dec 23;13(1):18.
doi: 10.3390/membranes13010018.

Application of an Integrated System of Thermal Pressure Hydrolysis/Membrane Techniques to Recover Chromium from Tannery Waste for Reuse in Hide Tanning Processes

Anna Kowalik-Klimczak  1 , Maciej Życki  1 , Monika Łożyńska  1 , Christian Schadewell  2 , Thomas Fiehn  2 , Bogusław Woźniak  1 , Monika Flisek  3
Affiliations

Application of an Integrated System of Thermal Pressure Hydrolysis/Membrane Techniques to Recover Chromium from Tannery Waste for Reuse in Hide Tanning Processes

Anna Kowalik-Klimczak et al. Membranes (Basel). .

Abstract

This paper presents the results of research on a new method of chromium recovery from solid waste generated during the tanning of raw hides. In the first stage, the shredded mixture of useless leather scraps is decomposed through thermal pressure hydrolysis (TPH) in nitric acid in appropriate process conditions. Then, the liquid product of this process (hydrolysate) is fractionated using membrane separation techniques. The microfiltration (MF) process enables the initial purification of the hydrolysate by concentrating the organic matter. On the other hand, the nanofiltration (NF) process enables a three-fold concentration of total chromium in the pre-purified hydrolysate. The total chromium concentrate prepared in the above manner was successfully used in the model tanning processes. These processes were carried out on pickled bovine hides, using a mixture of a commercial chromium tanning agent and chromium concentrate after nanofiltration. The reference sample was bovine hide traditionally tanned with a commercial chromium tanning agent. Based on the results of the physical and chemical analyses, it was found that the properties of hides tanned using chromium recovered from waste are similar to those of hides tanned traditionally using a commercially available chromium tanning agent. The industrial implementation of the developed tannery waste valorisation technology would enable transition from a linear economy to circular economy.

Keywords: chromium(III); circular economy; microfiltration (MF); nanofiltration (NF); tannery waste; thermal pressure hydrolysis (TPH).

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The manuscript’s authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Images of the samples of the chromium tannery waste in the form of (a) shavings, (b) cuttings, and (c) dust.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Fractionation procedure for a liquid fraction created as a result of the thermal pressure hydrolysis of chromium waste from tanneries carried out in an acidic environment.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Images of SEM (I) (magn. ×1000) and elemental composition of analysis EDS (II) of the surface JX membrane before (a) and after (b) microfiltration of the liquid fraction created as a result of the thermal pressure hydrolysis of chromium waste from tanneries.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Images of the surface of the (I) TS40 and (II) DL membranes before (a) and after (b) nanofiltration of the liquid fraction created as a result of the thermal pressure hydrolysis of chromium waste from tanneries, pre-treated using microfiltration, taken with SEM (magnification: ×1000).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Elemental composition (%) of the surface of (I) TS40 and (II) DL membranes before (a) and after (b) nanofiltration of the liquid fraction created as a result of the thermal pressure hydrolysis of chromium waste from tanneries, pre-treated using microfiltration, determined using EDS.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Total chromium concentration after individual stages of the proposed tannery waste valorisation technology. TPH—thermal pressure hydrolysis; NF I—nanofiltration (stage I); NF II—nanofiltration (stage II).
Figure 7
Figure 7
Procedure for using chromium recovered from waste generated during hide tanning.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Images of the surface of bovine hides tanned using (a) a commercial tanning agent and (b) chromium recovered from tannery waste (concentrate), taken using the (I) 3D microscope (magnification: ×500) and (II) SEM (magnification: ×100).
Figure 9
Figure 9
Maps of chromium distribution on the surface of the bovine hides tanned using (a) a commercial tanning agent and (b) chromium recovered from tannery waste (concentrate), taken using EDS.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Prototype of men’s footwear for everyday use made of bovine hide tanned using chromium recovered from tannery waste.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Zhao J., Wu Q., Tang Y., Zhou J., Guo H. Tannery wastewater treatment: Conventional and promising processes, an updated 20-year review. J. Leather Sci. Eng. 2022;4:10. doi: 10.1186/s42825-022-00082-7. - DOI
    1. Verma S.K., Sharma P.C. Current trends in solid tannery waste management. Crit. Rev. Biotechnol. 2022;20:1–18. doi: 10.1080/07388551.2022.2068996. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chojnacka K., Skrzypczak D., Mikula K., Witek-Krowiak A., Izydorczyk G., Kuligowski K., Bandrów P., Kułażyński M. Progress in sustainable technologies of leather wastes valorization as solutions for the circular economy. J. Clean. Prod. 2021;313:127902. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127902. - DOI
    1. Saha B., Azam F.A.B. Probable ways of tannery’s solid and liquid waste management in Bangladesh—An overview. Text. Leather rev. 2021;4:76–95. doi: 10.31881/TLR.2020.25. - DOI
    1. Stefan D.S., Bosomoiu M., Constantinescu R.R., Ignat M. Composite polymers from leather waste to produce smart fertilizers. Polymers. 2021;13:4351. doi: 10.3390/polym13244351. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources