This patent application describes a process for producing a leather-like material from leather waste. The process involves mechanically reducing leather scraps into fibers, mixing them with a thermoplastic polymer, heating the mixture to melt the polymer, extruding the material, and cooling to produce the final product. The resulting material has physical properties similar to real leather and can be used in applications like footwear, clothing, and furniture.

1. Process for producing
leather-like material and
material obtainable thereby
INVENTORS: Vitolo Sandra
Puccini Monica
Donati Franco
PATENT STATUS: GRANTED
PRIORITY NUMBER: 102018000003401
GRANT DATE: 23/03/2020
PUBLISHED AS: EP

2. Invention
The valorization of waste from the leather production chain is the main purpose of this invention, which proposes
an innovative process to transform such leather waste for manufacturing leather-like material reusable in various
sectors.
The leather production chain produces a variety of waste materials, ranging from raw leather offcuts to finished
leather offcuts, waste from fleshing, splitting into tripe or tanned leather, or grinding dust, fragments or unworkable
parts of leather, the disposal of which entails considerable economic and environmental burdens. They can be
advantageously used in the process of the invention instead of resorting to conventionally used disposal or reuse
procedures.
The process for the manufacturing of leather-like material from leather scraps includes the following steps:
- reduction into fibers of said waste with the sole use of mechanical means;
- preparation of a mixture containing a thermoplastic polymer and the aforementioned fibers;
- heating of the mixture in order to cause the melting of the thermoplastic polymer, generally based on
polyurethanes and polycaprolactones;
- extrusion, and
- cooling at room temperature to obtain the leather-like material.
This material meets the product, performance and eco-toxicological requirements of the industry standards,
whose parameters can be evaluated according to the international methods IULTCS (IUP-IUC-IUF). Furthermore, it
presents physical-mechanical properties, such as fibrosity, permeability and breathability, very similar to those of
real leather, since the collagen of the material's fibers has not been degraded or pulverized.
CONCERIA LUFRAN S.R.L is also a patent applicant.

3. Drawings
& pictures
A new leather-like material that can be used in many sectors, as
footwear, clothing, furniture, saddlery, technical articles, construction
and automotive components.
WASTE
from the leather working process
useful for the production of
LEATHER-LIKE MATERIAL

4. Industrial applications
For use in leather goods, the material of the invention exhibits the following properties:
• color fastness to rubbing, light, water;
• resistance to abrasion, tearing, stitching, traction;
• color fastness to migration into other materials (e.g. PU, PVC...);
• resistance to atmospheric agents, even extreme ones, to dry and wet bending, and adhesion to the applied finish.
In the use in footwear, the material of the invention exhibits, in addition to the characteristics previously reported, properties of relaxation to cracking, resistance also
extreme to climatic agents, breathability and water repellency.
When used in clothing, the material of the invention also exhibits properties of fastness to washing, even when dry.
When used in furnishings/cladding, the material is also resistant to chlorinated and sea water, cleanable and low flammability.
The material of the invention can also be advantageously used in other sectors such as upholstery, technical articles, construction and automotive components. This
material is, in fact, further workable by means of mechanical finishing processes that give it the desired aesthetic and product characteristics. In particular, it can be
colored on the surface in every possible shade, through the application of dyes or pigments, in combination with polymers that ensure an excellent chemical bond to the
substrate and allow the subsequent finishing operations.

5. Possible
developments
The present invention relates to the exploitation of so-called "secondary raw materials",
i.e., the ennoblement of material otherwise considered waste, through reuse in
various manufacture processes.
According to the principle of circular economy, developing an integrated solution for
the valorization of most of the waste materials of the tanning industry increases the
competitiveness of tanning companies, strengthening and differentiating the
commercial offer through innovative products related to many other sectors.
The invention, born thanks to the collaboration of the tannery LUFRAN S.r.l., can find
further applications hopefully involving other partners from different industrial fields
(see previous slide).
The process will be validated on a pilot scale and then on an industrial scale, for the
evaluation of the actual environmental sustainability of the recovery process of the
above.

6. Tech Transfer Office of University of Pisa
For more information:
Ufficio Regionale di Trasferimento Tecnologico
Headquarters: Via Luigi Carlo Farini, 8 50121 Firenze (FI)
E-mail: urtt@regione.toscana.it
For more information:
Headquarters: Lungarno Pacinotti 43/44, Pisa (PI) 56126
Web site: www.unipi.it/index.php/trasferimento
E-mail: valorizzazionericerca@unipi.it