The Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) is looking to commercialise some of the technology leads it has developed in bio-base processing of leather shortly, CLRI Director A.B. Mandal said on Tuesday.
Addressing National Technology Day celebrations at CLRI, Mr. Mandal said the new leads in leather processing signalled a paradigm shift from chemical base to bio-base.
In the leather chemicals sector, the major categories of leads were mineral syntan, protein-based syntan, vegetable/non-mineral syntan and fat liquors, while bio-technological leads pertained to enzymatic products and peptides.
“CLRI proposes to upscale and standardise the leads for commercial application with the active participation of industry,” Mr. Mandal said.
The list of technologies developed by the CLRI and transferred to industry ranges from E.coli removal from wastewater and dehairing enzyme from animal source to collagen sponge and diabetic footwear.
Abhay Kumar, marketing manager (leather) at SPIC, said the company was keen on seeking technology transfer of two of the 18 important leads developed by CLRI under the New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative (NMITLI) programme of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
According to Mr. Kumar, SPIC had come through initial failures to develop an enzyme formulation for 100 per cent lime and sulphide replacement with the guidance of CLRI researchers.
There is an increasing awareness among tannery units about the imperative of adopting environment-friendly technologies sooner than later, he said. “While awareness about health hazards of tannery effluents led to the closure of units in Europe, in India tanneries are responding to the pressure for changing to processes that minimise pollution load in waste,” he said.
Md. Nizamuddin, manager, Amburtec, gave a snapshot of his company's association with CLRI in developing sustainable landfill at the Ambur tannery. Subhendu Chakrabarti, Business Processes Division, CLRI, said that as a customer-sensitive organisation, CLRI sought to celebrate Technology Day by providing a platform for users of CLRI technologies to share their experiences. The feedback was necessary to ensure better services to industry.
