![]() ![]() Vegetable tanning uses vegetable extracts (from leaves, fruits, seeds and barks) to process hides/skins into waterproof, non-putrefiable, soft and supple (Everton et al., 2020). Vegetable tannins are polyphenols with molecular weight ranging 500–20,000 Dalton. Vegetable tanning is the most eco-friendly method as compared to chemical tanning process and it discharge minimum amounts of pollutants to the environment. It is a global environmental disaster and puts the health of millions of leather workers and ordinary citizens at risk (Abul et al., 2015). Although chrome tanning has gained importance in leather manufacture, its advantage is over shadowed by its negative impact on the environment. ![]() Chrome tanned leather accounts for 90% of leathers in the world. Among the tanning agents, chrome tanning is the dominant and widely used in the leather industries. Some of these include vegetable, alum, chrome, oil and aldehyde tanning agents. Tanning is considered as one of the important steps that protect the leather against microbial degradation There are a wide variety of tanning agents that are available at the market today. In tanning processes tanning materials are able to crosslink with reactive site of fibrous protein, and it involves the conversion of putrefiable skin or hides to a non-putrefiable material (Alex & Arthur, 2016). Tanning is a process in which the leather-making protein is completely stimulating against heat, enzymatic biodegradation, thermo-mechanical stress by converting the fibrous protein of raw hide or skin into stable material and making the leather suitable for a wide variety of end uses (Everton et al., 2020). ![]() In Ethiopia there are large number of leather industries which are commonly using chemicals for tanning process and release tremendous amounts of chemical pollutants to the environment. Leather industry is the environmental concern of all over the world as it releases huge amounts of chemical effluents to the environment especially during tanning step of the process. Hence, from the current study, it is possible to conclude that Sodom apple fruit extract is a cleaner alternative and promising pathway for goatskin tanning. Finally, the pollution load of tanning liquors in Sodom apple tanning was significantly reduced as compared to the control (mimosa). Similarly, the organoleptic and strength properties of the tanned leathers were evaluated in comparison with the control ones. The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) was carried out to study the effect of the tannin system on the structural and morphological characteristics of the tanned leathers. The qualitative analysis and structural characterization of the extracts were done using thin-layer chromatography (TLC), Ultraviolet (UV) spectrometer and Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer which confirmed the presence of condensed tannins in the extract. Although the amount of material extracted was significant in all extracting solvents, water was a more efficient solvent (extraction yield of 16.71%) than the others. It was extracted with distilled water, methanol, petroleum ether and ethanol by using Soxhlet extraction method. Thus, the current study focused to investigate the potential effectiveness of the extracted tannin from Sodom apple (Solanum Incanum) fruit as vegetable tanning agent on goatskins. The use of natural materials that is eco-friendly on leather as vegetable tanning is therefore, a matter of significant importance. ![]() However, chromium is a global environmental disaster and puts the health of millions of leather workers and ordinary citizens at risk. Chrome tanned leather accounts for 90% of leather in the world. ![]()
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