Closing loop within Italian tanneries is the title of the speech given by Franco Cavazza at the IFIB conference - Italian Forum on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioeconomy 2016 - which was held at CUOA of Altavilla, in the province of Vicenza in the last weeks. The ILSA industrial director explained how the company has always made the circular economy and biochemistry its core business. This has been done either developing own processes as well as participating in research projects such as greenLIFE which aims, among other goals, to studying the best recovery system of proteins from tanning industry by-products for agricultural use. With the occasion, Cavazza also presented the recent Biopol, another project that has obtained the backing of the European Commission for the realisation of biopolymers, tannery and grease products for the leather manufacturing process, derived from the reuse of agricultural and food industry waste instead of from crude oil synthesis.

1. FRANCO CAVAZZA
Industrial Director ILSA SpA
Closing loop within italian tanneries
F. Cavazza (ILSA S.p.A., Italy) fcavazza@ilsagroup.com

2. ILSA Spa
Arzignano - Italy.
Built in 1986, 39.000 sq. m.
HQ with R&D Center.
(55.000 tons of solid and 2.000 tons of liquid)
ILSA MEDITERRANEO Spa
Puglia - South Italy.
Built in 2000, 15.800 sq. m.
(18.000 tons of solid organic and organic
mineral).
ILSA BRASIL Ltda
Porto Alegre – Rio Grande do Sul.
Built in 2008, total area 400.000 sq. m.
(13.000 tons production capacity of solid
organic).
WHO WE ARE: THE PRODUCTON SITES

3. Termal
hydrolisis
Enzimatic
hydrolisis
Supercritical
fluid
extraction
(SFE)
• R.M.: collagen.
• Prod.: solid fertilizers with
specific action on the soil.
• R.M.: animal and vegetable
renewable sources.
• Prod.: liquid fertilizers with
specific action on the plant
and/or on other fertilizers.
• R.M.: different vegetable
sources.
• Prod.: molecules and/or
compounds with specific
action on the plant and/or
on the roots.
WHAT WE DO: THE PRODUCTION PROCESS

4. Product environmental footprint
and
Organization Environmental footprint
According Recommendation 2013/179/EU
WHAT WE DO: THE PRODUCTION PROCESS

5. THE ITALIAN TANNING INDUSTRY

6. THE ITALIAN TANNING INDUSTRY

7. Justus Von Liebig (1803-1873)
German Chemist
- «Plants feed themselves by means of chemical elements»
starting of rational use of fertilizers for plant nutrition
Liebig «prophecies»:
2) No industrial activity will survive if starting
without strong knowledge of a recovery
process of the wastes that it can give origin
to
1) Development of agroindustrial re-use of
animal wastes in agricolture

8. Leather industry: the answer to Liebig prophecy

9. Collagen is the main component of animal skin. It is the most
important protein of animal mammals. This protein, when hydrolized,
give origin to a slow release organic nitrogen fertilizer. This kind of
nitrogen it is not easly leached by rain precipitation, and it is optimal
for plants that require long term nutrition.
Leather: an optimal source of
nutrients for plants and soil

10. RECOVERY PROCESS FOR LEATHER SHAVES AND CRUST
THERMAL HYDROLYSIS
Animal proteins are made available to the soil
according to a pre-arranged time (slow release of
organic nitrogen)
Drying at low temperature make the organic gelatin
stable; low temperature (no more than 120°C) is
fundamental to not denatured the proteins
Ingredients: Steam @6 bar and bovine collagen
(treated skins)
Total control of the process

11. RECOVERY PROCESS FOR LEATHER SHAVES AND CRUST
FULLY CONTROLLED ENZYMATIC HYDROLYSIS
Enzymatic extraction and hydrolysis of renewable raw materials
Alfalfa (Medicago Sativa)
Animal

12. Hydrolyzed gelatin for – agricoltural grade
• Organic matrix for Solid fertilizer
• Positive effect on soil microbial activity
Hydrolyzed proteins and aminoacids
• Liquid organic fertilizer and biostimulant
• Nutrition, biostimulant, strengthener
Effects of ILSA biostimulant on roots – Copyright by ILSA SpA
Effects of ILSA biostimulant on lettuce – Copyright by ILSA SpA

13. TARGET
• Reduce 20% of water consumption in first wet steps of leather process
(liming)
• Reduce 20% chemicals consumption in first wet steps of leather
process (liming)
• Recover to market 15% of solid byproducts (sludge from liming and
dehairing steps and shavings from wet white tanning process)
• Start up of a technology-hub to share ideas and solutions
• Develop and share instruments to early evaluate cost/benefits of a
potential industrial scale-up of tecnologies inside the tanning cluster of
Arzignano
TITLE Green Leather Industry For the Environment (greenLIFE)
PERIOD 36 monthes (01/06/2014 – 31/05/2017)
BUDGET Approved Budget : 2.260.000 € / EU Funded: 1.120.000 €

14. Development of a new liming processes
•Liming process with recovery and re-use of liming baths
•Oxidative liming process
•Enzymatic liming process
Development of a new leather tannery processing
•Studying of a new organic-based tannery product
•Testing to experimental and semi-industrial scale of the new organic-based product
Recovery and re-use of tannery and liming process by-products
•Collection of process by-products
•Treatment or by products and experimentation of a new re-use technology
Water treatment system and new technology: potential impact assessment
•Current water treatment district system
•Liming baths and characterisation of processing by-products
•Assessment of the new technology and potential impact on the water treatment Tannery
District system
Monitoring of environmental and social impact
•Environmental impact: data collection, analysis and perspective
•Socio-economic impact: data collection, analysis and perspective
www.greenlifeproject.eu/

15. BIOPOL: «LIFE Project that changes skin»
1) Design and build up an Industrial Prototype Plant able to
produce green chemicals: the involved chemical reactions
will be Condensations, Polymerisations, Cationisations,
Sulphitations, Oxidations, Estheriphications, Solphonations
of biomass and by-products.
2) Produce Bio-Polymers re-using as raw materials
some industrial by-products (from the leather
industry too) like animal & vegetable biomasses and
Builing-blocks from Bio-Refaneries. The involved
industries will be agro-chemical and lealther. Tanning,
re-tanning, fatliquors for the leather making process
will be produced.
LIFE15 ENV/IT/000654

16. 3) Contribute to the re-use of biomasses and
by-products actually disposed in landfill,
incinerated or already re-used but with high
related costs.
4) Prove that the new green chemicals have same or
better quality performances than what is currently in
use, through the application on leather in small and big
scale trials. These trials will be carried out by the
tanneries beneficiaries of the projects. A new
crosslinker agent will be used as promoter of
biopolymers activity in order to minimize their use in
comparison with traditional chemicals
5) Prove that the Enviromental impact and the
total Water consumption of the leather
making process by using the new chemicals is
largerly lower than the state of the art.
6) Prove that the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF)
of the new Biopolymers is far inferior than the state of
the art leather making auxiliaries.
BIOPOL: «LIFE Project that changes skin»
LIFE15 ENV/IT/000654

17. BIOPOL: «LIFE Project that changes skin»
LIFE15 ENV/IT/000654
From PEF/OEF –
(EU Recommendation 2013/179/UE)
to «made green in Italy» (National law 221/2015