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Sustainability

  • UNIDO Solar Water Heating - Ayuub Brothers, Hazaribagh, Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • UNIDO Solar Water Heating
  • UNIDO leather Screen - Hair saving liming technology

Sustainable and cleaner production technolgies is an efficient method of preventing or minimizing pollution caused by industrial activities. UNIDO continues to place an emphasis on the introduction of cleaner leather processing technology in developing countries. The primary task of all cleaner technologies is to reduce the amount pollution emissions; and where possible change the nature of pollution emissions to reduce the pressure and costs of end-of-pipe treatment. The expected results primarily include:

  • Lower water consumption – better preservation of rapidly diminishing water resources.
  • Lower total dissolved solids (TDS) content (including salinity) – lower risk of affecting the usability of the receiving water bodies for irrigation and livestock watering.
  • Avoidance of use in processing and/or presence in leather of substances from the Restricted Substances Lists (RSL) promulgated by national or regional legislation, leading (multinational) brands and/or ecolabel due to their proven negative impact on human health and eco-systems.               
  • Proportionally higher volume of solid wastes suitable for processing into saleable by-products.
  • Lower levels of BOD, COD and Nitrogen; their respective contents in conformity with local and widely prevailing legislative norms.
  • Low level of chromium in (C)ETP sludge – the scope for land application and/or composting.
  • Lower hazardous and/or unpleasant air emissions.
  • Appropriate occupational health and safety (OSH) standards – better work conditions, fewer accidents.

The course Introduction to Leather Testing is designed for training institutions, private companies and individuals that require understanding of both the theory and application of a wide array of standard test methods in utilize in the leather industry. The course is recommended to be used in a blend of classroom instruction using training content or self-learning along with allocation of time for hands on application in the laboratory. All courses provide opportunity for continuous professional development and lifelong learning.

The Course is divided into five modules:

M1: Fundamentals in Material Testing

M2: Basics in Leather Testing

M3: Physical Testing

M4: Fastness Testing

M5: Chemical Testing

 

Content was developed and prepared as a joint effort between UNIDO, FILK Freiberg Institute and Common Sense. Dr. S. Dietrich will guide you through the course. The course is offered free of charge and a certificate issued upon successful completion of the course.

The course will be available also in additional languages. The course was developed thanks to a generous support from the Government of Japan.

To register to the course, please use this link:  https://learning.unido.org/course/view.php?id=56

UNIDO Course Introduction to treatment of tannery effluents

The course, “Introduction to Treatment of Tannery Effluent” is designed for training institutions, private companies, and individuals that require an understanding of effluent treatment methods in the leather industry. The course is recommended to be used in a blended approach via classroom instruction using training content or self-learning along with an allocation of time for hands-on application in the laboratory.   There are 5 modules in this course as below:

Module 1: Load, norms, in-house treatment. This module will explain the aim of effluent treatment; pollution load and the main wastewater quality parameters; typical discharge norms.  It will also offer a general overview of the treatment of tannery effluents, segregation of streams, treatment of spent liming floats, and treatment of chrome-bearing floats
Module 2: Treatment within tannery compound. This refers to the pre-treatment for discharge into the common effluent treatment plant (CETP) collection network, and physical-mechanical (primary) treatment for discharge into municipal sewage.
Module 3: Sludge dewatering.  This module explores sludge thickeners, sludge pumps, filter press, centrifuge, belt filter press, flow-chart of physical-chemical treatment, and sludge drying beds.
Module 4: Biological (secondary) treatment.  This module looks into activated sludge, aeration devices, oxidation ditch, and the flow-chart of the biological treatment
Module 5: Occupational safety and health (OSH) in CETP, and its costing and management

Link to the course: https://learning.unido.org/course/view.php?id=6

Course: Occupational Safety and Health Aspects of Leather Manufacturing  - This training programme has been primarily designed for a wide range of people involved in the leather industry: from owners and tanners to managers and supervisors to tannery workers and technicians. Some parts of the training can be used by participants as self-study material. The training can also help in an exchange of ideas on how to improve the occupational safety and health standards at work in the tanneries and effluent treatment plants.

WHY IS SAFETY TRAINING IMPORTANT?

Safety training for employees is important because it reduces workplace injuries, boosts productivity, and creates a safer workplace. 

WHY DO STAFF NEED THIS COURSE?

Employers have a legal responsibility to provide key safety information to staff. Your staff need to understand Health & Safety basics in the workplace. The Health & Safety Awareness Course will deliver exactly that and provide your business with legal compliance.

WHO IS THIS COURSE FOR?

All practitioners involved in the leather industry but the core principles are applicable to all industries.

OBJECTIVES

This interactive course introduces the participant to many aspects of the Health & Safety at Work and is intended to help raise safety standards and awareness. Blended learning, group activities, case studies, etc will introduce key components and strategies to managing safety effectively.

COURSE CONTENT

The OSHALM Training is a blended learning programme which comprises classroom and online/self-paced components.

The course curriculum is structured into the following eight modules

COURSE BENEFITS

The Health & Safety Awareness Course is perfect for delivering safety awareness information to your staff.

Safety training is more than just a vital tool to keep your company compliant – it’s also an opportunity to foster a strong safety culture throughout the entire organization to make compliance the priority from the start.

Course link: https://learning.unido.org/course/view.php?id=141  

The only true leather-building substance in raw hide is corium collagen, everything else (hair, epidermis, fat, some proteinaceous matter etc.) has to be removed for which purpose substantial quantities of both general and specialty chemicals are needed; only some 20 % of them is actually retained by leather. Agglomerations of traditional tanning units with inadequate investment potential, lack of space and specific skills were conducive for setting up Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) servicing tannery clusters, the concept also adopted in relocations and/or establishing new leather clusters in developing countries. Due to only gradual increase in volumes of effluents and seasonal fluctuations associated with religious festivals, new CETPs are designed in modular way. On-site, physical-chemical (primary) treatment, including strict segregation of streams, catalytic oxidation of sulphide bearing spent floats, chrome management as well as equalization, settling, sludge removal and dewatering are by now already well-established technologies; the biological (secondary) treatment, typically using activated sludge method, often in raceways, in addition to high energy consumption, requires experienced personnel and close monitoring, in particular the removal of excess nitrogen (nitrification/denitrification). 

However, reutilisation and/or safe disposal of sludges remains a challenge to deal with. It appears that in very arid regions the best option to overcome the problem of Total Dissolve Solids (TDS, colloquially salinity) is to link tannery (C)ETPs with Municipal Wastewater Works (MWW).

Furthermore, it is important for the leather sector to take a proactive role in battling negative publicity and spreading of misleading information by fake green lobbies and pressure groups. Better coordination among various national, regional and global leather organizations, including R & D institutions would make a stronger impact.

Tanning industry is an important segment of UNIDO technical assistance in promoting sustainable development. In late 90-ies a number of studies dealing with various cleaner tanning methods, including the widely used paper The Scope for decreasing pollution load in leather processing, were prepared to support different forms of training activities (shop-floor demonstrations, pilot plants, national and regional workshops etc).

In the meantime a lot of practical experience has been gathered, some new tanning technologies developed and implemented and some new challenges have also emerged.  Since proper training is essential precondition for modern, sustainable leather processing, it is felt that a single, comprehensive paper on cleaner leather technologies, rounding up and updating earlier papers, could be of great help in training and capacity building activities.

In addition to traditional cleaner technologies topics such as pollution sources/loads, water management, hair-save liming, low- or ammonia-free deliming, chrome management, low-organic solvents finishing, solid waste management etc., this comprehensive study addresses virtually all issues relevant for performance and successful tanning operations: tannery environmental management systems (EMS/CSR), Restricted Substances Lists (RSL), energy considerations, mechanical operations, Occupational Safety and Health at workplace (OSH), Carbon Footprint (CF) and Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) which are so often the subject of extensive debates in various international fora and media.

The study also includes many tables, charts and (equipment) photos accompanying and illustrating the text.

It is envisaged that the document will serve as a basis for developing globally accessible eLearning courses on sustainable leather manufacture.

There are also other useful information and sources e.g. Tannery of the Future. The Tannery of the Future tool gives tanners an initial indication of the areas in which they need to become more sustainable, e.g. housekeeping, waste management, working conditions and wages. It also provides references to sources of more in-depth information and guidance.

The Leather Working Group (LWG) has launched an online training platform designed to educate leather manufacturers and other members of the leather supply chain on responsible operating practices.

Safety doesn't happen by accident!

This Second Edition is a thoroughly revised and expanded version of UNIDO paper The Occupational Safety and Health Aspects of Leather Manufacture from 1999.This manual has been primarily prepared for use by tanners and tannery supervisors. It has been designed to provide guidance and ideas on how to improve the occupational safety and health standards at work in tanneries and effluent treatment plants by presenting the sources of hazards in a tannery and pointing out simple measures, in a practical and easily understandable manner, for ready implementation on-site. A special attention is given to risks associated with hydrogen sulphide gas, H2S. 

Course: Occupational Safety and Health Aspects of Leather Manufacturing is available here

APLF webinar on safety is available here

The study titled Life Cycle Assessment, Carbon Footprint in Leather Processing prepared for and presented by F. Brugnoli during the XVIII Session of UNIDO Leather and Leather Products Industry Panel in Shanghai in 2012 provided detailed explanations, definitions and terminology pertaining to leather’s carbon footprint.

It also contained specific suggestions on how to proceed in addressing this issue. Subsequently, it was not only extensively discussed by eminent international leather specialists, but it has triggered a series of activities involving different regional and global establishments.

The essence of that paper, reactions to it and some other views were reflected in a special chapter in UNIDO’s comprehensive study The Framework for Sustainable Leather  Manufacture, a chapter dealing with carbon footprint aspects of leather processing.

That chapter is now here presented as separate paper for the benefit of readers primarily interested in the carbon footprint considerations. 

In addition to earlier content, the paper also presents the main features of the European Standard EN 16887 (approved in Nov 2016, published in March 2017, applicable not later than Sept 2017) Leather – Environmental footprint – Product Category Rules (PCR) – Carbon footprints. It is quite likely that the European norm will prevail globally.

Due to different ambient temperatures many would expect that the overall thermal energy consumption in a tannery in a hot climate zone is considerably lower than in a temperate zone. In reality it is somewhat more complex and worth comparing.

In any case, two very important factors,  (i) temperature and (ii) humidity of inlet air are often overlooked in estimation of energy required for the crust and/or leather drying.

Chamber drying in (sub)tropical zone benefits from the higher ambient (air) temperature but at the same time it is negatively affected by high relative humidity and consequently much higher volume of fresh air required. However, the fact that the energy required for water evaporation[1] does not change much with water temperature ultimately prevails over parameters such as ambient (air) temperature and air humidity. Accordingly, energy consumption for chamber drying in (sub)tropical zone with average air temperature of 30oC and relative humidity  in the span of 50-90 % is only about 5 % less than in the temperate zone.

However, if the solar energy is used to support water heating, the conditions in the tropic zone are substantially more favourable, due to two factors:

insolation
efficiency factor (depends on the temperature difference of the final vs. inlet water temperature)

The insolation in the temperate zone (Europe) is approx. 1500 kWh/m2/y (4.1 kWh/m2/d), and in the tropical zone (South India) approx. 2200 kWh/m2/y (6.0 kWh/m2/d), so that the factor of proportionality is 1.5. Since the efficiency ratio case can be estimated as 1.05 it means that the solar based production of thermal energy in a hot climate country is about 1.6 times more favourable than in temperate climate.

 The (latent) heat of vaporization is the amount of energy (enthalpy) that must be added to a liquid substance to transform a quantity of that substance into a gas. The enthalpy of vaporization is a function of the pressure at which that transformation takes place.

 

Historically, for various reasons, tanneries have been generally found in clusters in many countries. In several countries that still possess a strong tanning industry, the industry has either been able to deal collectively with the environmental challenges by means of common waste treatment facilities in existing clusters (e.g. India, Italy, Pakistan) or is in the process of relocation.

Within almost all projects of tannery relocation there are common reasons and the main problems faced by the industry at the current location are:

With no infrastructure for treatment of solid or liquid waste generated by tanneries, a very unhygienic atmosphere has been created in the entire locality due to discharge/disposal of untreated solid and liquid wastes.

Due to extreme limitations of space, even tanneries wanting to modernize and become more efficient in terms of production and environment management are unable to do so. The present location, in this manner, has become a serious constraint for the growth of the industry.

Downstream industries such as footwear, leather garment and leather goods, depend on the tanning industry for supply of quality leather. The existing limitations have put a limit to the growth of leather products industries.

Relocation of the tanneries to a more spacious location with appropriate infrastructure for efficient and cost effective treatment of solid and liquid wastes has thus become a prerequisite for survival and growth of the leather industry in such cases.

The precarious situation with water and soil pollution in the area of tannery clusters along the Palar River prompted the state environmental authorities to press for adherence to TDS discharge limits as well as to impose an approach not practiced in the tanning industry: a Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) concept.

Essentially, the ZLD systems concentrate dissolved solids by Reverse Osmosis (RO) and some kind of Multi Effect Evaporation (MEE) until only damp solid waste remains. Solid waste is disposed and nearly all water is reclaimed and reused. Accordingly, some of the existing Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) have been supplemented by RO and MEE, together with auxiliary steps (tertiary treatment, water softening etc.).

The analysis investigates and relates raw and equalized effluent inflows, RO feed, permeate and reject, evaporator feed and condensate and the yield of recovered, reusable water. Since the energy costs are critical for the viability of the entire concept, data about energy consumption (thermal, electrical main and Diesel) at key stages (RO, multistage evaporation) are consolidated, analysed and correlated. Additional energy needs and costs are compared with those for conventional (CETP) treatment and estimates made of the carbon footprint increase caused by the ZLD operations.

 

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