Water - a precious commodity

Water, after the air we breathe, is our next most precious commodity. According to the
Chartered Institute of Management Accounts (CIMA), 40% of the worlds population lives in
moderate to high water stress areas and facts from the UN indicate that 40% of Fortune
1000 companies described the effect a water shortage would have on their business as
severe or catastrophic.
There is no shortage of water on the planet, just a shortage of fresh water and with 83 million
more people in the world each year the water demand continues to increase.
With less than 1% of the worlds water supply suitable for growing crops, servicing industry
and supplying drinking and bathing water, water conservation is essential and there are
many ways in which this can be achieved.
What can the leather industry do to conserve water?
The first steps that the leather industry can take are to reduce water use and recycle as
much as possible.
The Leather Working Group (LWG) recognises the importance of water as a global resource
and in its environmental auditing protocol, indicates that to produce 1 m2 of leather (from raw
to finished leather) an efficient tannery uses around 120 litres and an inefficient tannery
three times as much at 360 litres of water.
Litres / m2

Raw to Finished

Wet Blue to
Finished

Poor

260 300

110 130

Average
Good

180 260
115 - 180

85 - 110
58 - 85

Typical IPPC water usage figures can be seen in the table above

Savings and efficiencies for the leather manufacturer

Some simple yet effective ways to save water and reduce manufacturing costs include:
1. Carry out a water balance - If it isnt measured then it cannot be controlled
The first issue is to know how much water the factory is using per unit area. The
quantity of water into the tannery and the water leaving the tannery need to be
measured. Without a measure of water volume the tannery cannot assess how
much water is being used. Typically, the incoming water and outgoing water volume
should agree to within 10 15%. If the two measures vary by more than this, then
either the readings are inaccurate or water is being lost or gained somewhere in the
system. Pipe leaks can be a common issue especially where the pipe-work is
underground and old.

2.

Measure and Increase control

Carry out weekly/monthly checks on the water used against production for the same
period, measure in litres/m2
Apply the use of meters as much as possible, ideally on each relevant section of the
production and, where possible, on each water usage point. Such as:
o Samming & setting machines
o Effluent
o Finishing section
o Vacuum driers
o Washing floors
o Cleaning chemical drums etc.
o Samples section/laboratory
o Boiler
o Indirect water gardens/sanitary etc.
Measure the theoretical process water (from the process sheets) against that actually
used

3.

Stop bad practices

A walk around any tannery will quickly identify whether or not the production is using
water wisely. The tell tale signs are:
Leaking pipes
Hosepipes left running - fit restrictors on hosepipes so they stop if not attended
Water cooling systems on machines left on constantly - collect and re-use this
water or install a chilled closed circuit
Excess washing of equipment or drums
4.

Reduce process water

In most tanneries savings can be found from careful management of the process. The
first step is to go through the process and calculate the water percentages. For
example, there may be 5 washes at 200% and several floats added at between 50 to
150%, water is used to dilute chemicals eg dyes and acids. Count this in and dont forget
to measure the water used for unloading the leather at the end of process.
It is not possible to say what the optimum percentage float is, but working on 1200 to
1400% times the weight of wet blue would be a reasonable level for retanning and
dyeing. Many tanners wash more than necessary and so, when assessing how effective
washing is, it is useful to measure the salt content in the float. Once the level is less
than <0.5% then further washes should not be required.
Are the float lengths too long? Why use 200% in soaking or 100% in tanning etc? It is
often possible to reduce these arbitrary levels by 5% or even 10% without any negative
effect.

It is essential to be able to control water input to a process ideally by metering. Washing

by running water for a time is often excessive as well as variable. Metered batch washing
is essential and puts the control back with the factory technicians.

5.

Water recycling

Often waste water can be re-used in other operations without any detrimental effects; for
example:

Desalt hides and skins before processing/use fresh material if possible

It is often possible to use water from the main soak (50%) and recycle into the
next days dirt soak
Re-use the waste water from the wash before deliming as part of the liming float
Re-use the wash water after deliming in the dirt or main soak
Are the samming felts kept wet by running water? Can recycled water be used?
Can waste water be used to mix chemicals for effluent treatment rather than
using fresh water?
If chrome recycling is carried out, re-use the supernatant liquor back in the
chrome tanning bath
Consider recycling chrome liquors by using the liquor for tanning, but make up to
strength with fresh chrome
Only use waste water from various washing processes to wash floors, machines
etc

By adopting some of these simple philosophies annual water savings of 20-30% are
often possible.
For further information on BLC Services please contact info@blcleathertech.com
References

Apocalypse H20: waters true value Excellence in Leadership Issue 23, 2011, CIMA