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Tannery Effluent Treatment

Despite all preventive measures, a sizeable portion of pollutants can only be removed by the end-of-pipe methods, i.e. treating effluents discharged in the course of leather processing. One of the most successful areas of interventions implemented or facilitated by UNIDO was designing and managing the construction of cost effective [Common] Effluent Treatment Plants ([C]ETP). More than 250 such plants have been designed, established or upgraded through various technical assistance projects. Achievements and experiences were documented in technical papers, reports and manuals which are available in this section. A special Animated Visual Training Tool was also developed by UNIDO and is available in the section “e-Learning".

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.

Ажлын байранд гарч болох аюул, эрсдлүүдийг таниулах, осол гэмтлийн үед эмнэлгийн тусламж ирэхээс өмнө цаг алдалгүй, өөртөө болон бусдад анхны тусламжийг аюулгүй, зөв үзүүлэх мэдлэг, чадварыг олгох зорилготой “Ажлын байранд анхны тусламж үзүүлэх нь” цахим хичээл Монгол хэлнээ нээгдлээ.

Сургалтын материалд бодит жишээг гутал, арьс шир боловсруулах үйлдвэрийн орчинд авч үзсэн байгаа ч аливаа осол гэмтлийн үед анхны тусламж үзүүлэх арга нь ижил тул сургалтын материалыг ноос, ноолуур, уул уурхай, барилга зэрэг дурын салбарт ашиглах боломжтой. Салбарын онцлогоос хамаарч 8 модулиас хэрэгцээ шаардлагын дагуу сонгон хэрэгжүүлж болох юм. Цахим хичээлийг сонирхсон хүмүүс Интернэтэд холбогдсон суурин болон зөөврийн компьютер, таблет, ухаалаг утас ашиглан хүссэн цагтаа хаанаас ч үзэж судлах боломжтой

 

Нэмэлт мэдээлэл

 Цахимаар суралцах талбар 

https://learning.unido.org/course/view.php?id=40   (copy and paste this link into browser)

Цахим курст бүртгүүлэх заавар ба төслийн танилцуулга https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gClR2hm_UNXcpZLNmxzEfsnGGNhrnQ9w

Recommendations and preventive measures in response to COVID-19: Guidance for the industrial sector

This tool provides guidance to employers, workers and their representatives on preventive measures for a safe return to work in the context of COVID-19, conforming to well established principles and methods on occupational safety and health risk management.

There are many other useful guidelines and recommendations available.

"SAFE Leather" must mean safe for operators and workers, as well as safe for consumers and communities. Company management must ensure that the workplace provides workers and anyone else attending the workplace with access to appropriate first aid equipment. Management must also ensure that the workers have access to an adequate number of persons who have been trained to administer first aid.

First Aid course/training should be mandatory for all emplyees. 

First Aid course Modules
Module 1: First Aid Kit - content
Module 2: First Aid Dealing with Heart Attack
Module 3: First Aid Dealing with Burns
Module 4: First Aid Dealing with Accidents Involving Chemicals
Module 5: First Aid Dealing with Contusions
Module 6: First Aid Dealing with Eye Injuries
Module 7: First Aid Dealing with Severe Bleeding
Module 8: First Aid Dealing with Eelectricity

 

To enroll into the course please follow the linkhttps://learning.unido.org/course/view.php?id=19

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.

 

Hydrogen supplied gas present in tanneries and effluent treatment plants (ETPs) has proven fatal to workers exposed to it many times.

It is therefore necessary that the owners and managers of tanneries and effluent treatment plants are fully aware of the dangers posed by this poisonous gas and take all preventive and precautionary measures to protect the workforce from exposure to this gas. In the event of accidental exposure of a worker, they should know how to deal with the situation.

UNIDO’s activities in the leather processing has as one of its important objectives, improvement of occupational safety and health practices in tanneries and effluent treatment plants. Under this objective, the project has been seeking to demonstrate in selected tanneries improvement practices for better occupational health and safety of the workers.

It is hoped that the industry representatives and other concerned with the occupational health and safety of workers in tanneries and effluent treatment plants will find this publication useful.

UNIDO on-line learning How to deal with hydrogen sulphide gas

Confronted with increasing legal and social pressures, no tanner can afford the luxury of not being familiar with the main issues and principles of occupational, safety and health protection pertaining to tannery operations.

Hydrogen sulphide gas present in tanneries and effluent treatment plants has proven fatal to workers exposed to it many times.

See also Safety Video - How to deal with hydrogen sulhide gas

It is therefore necessary that the owners and managers of tanneries and effluent treatment plants are fully aware of the dangers posed by this poisonous gas and take all preventive and precautionary measures to protect the workforce from exposure to this gas. In the event of accidental exposure of a worker, they should know how to deal with the situation.

The lessons that follow are to help tanners, tannery managers and operators to acquaint themselves with the basic principles How to deal with hydrogen sulphide gas.

The on-line course developed by UNIDO including test provides an opportunity for the proper training within tanneries related to danger associated with hydrogen sulphide gas. After finishing the test with minimum score 80%, participants will receive the certificate and will be able to download it.

How to enrol into the UNIDO on-line course “ How to deal with hydrogen sulphide gas”?

Follow a link: https://learning.unido.org/course/view.php?id=42 

It is hoped that the certificate will be accepted also by Occupational Safety and Health Authorities as a proof that staff was properly trained.

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