Clariant’s EasyWhite Tan to set new industry standard

Muttenz, December 15, 2010 - For those in the leather industry, certain words are instantly associated with tanning — just think of mimosa, quebracho or chrome — and now the industry will have another: Granofin®, specifically Granofin Easy F-90. It is the key to the chemistry behind the launch of Clariant’s new EasyWhite Tan, which will itself justify its place alongside Wet Blue and Wet White among tanners.

With this outstanding technology, the tanning process becomes leaner, cleaner and safer than ever before. The use of salt during tanning is no longer necessary. Clariant’s Granofin Easy F-90 provides a more environmentally friendly and safer tanning process and will have major benefits for tanners, especially those producing leather upholstery for the automotive sector but also for other sectors, such as footwear.

EasyWhite Tan is a totally new concept in chrome-free tanning; using Granofin Easy F-90, an organic compound that is metal free, as well as aldehyde free, formaldehyde free and phenol free, its self-reactive hybrid performance means that the usual basification process in tanning and the earlier pickle stage, are completely eliminated.

By removing two, and in some cases three, of the tanning processes required under present day systems, EasyWhite Tan can reduce production time by at least six hours and makes the tanning process extremely simple. It also reduces waste, and any waste that is generated is inert in the environment and has no inhibitory effect on micro-organism activity.

By eliminating the basification and pickle stages and focusing only on tanning, EasyWhite Tan not only generates considerable savings in time and reduced chemical usage, it also lessens the opportunities for error, makes handling easier and safer and provides for greater production stability and consistency.

“Tanning systems are usually divided into two main streams —metal and metal free — and both have their positives and negatives. Excluding vegetable tannins, the most used metal free systems are based on glutaraldehyde or phosphonium salts (THPS),” explains Claus Reineking, Head of PM Wet End Chemicals of Clariant’s BU Leather Services. “We wanted to develop an improved metal free system, a wet white tanning process which would do away with the problematical aspects of current wet white tanning. Granofin Easy F-90 is the answer. It provides a simplified and more stable production than the current known processes.”

Clariant is convinced that EasyWhite Tan will contribute towards a new greener way of chrome-free tanning, too. One of the extra benefits of Granofin Easy F-90 is that it does away with the need to add any extra salt into the tanning process, commonly introduced at the conventional pickle stage to avoid swelling in the hides. It means that there is a significant reduction in chlorides and sulphates in tannery wastewater. This will be welcomed by the industry, as it means less corrosion within the tannery, and especially welcomed by those who are already processing green hides to avoid one of the main sources of salt within the tannery.

As the global leather sector continues to improve its environmental credentials, Clariant’s EasyWhite Tan will be seen as helping the industry set a new benchmark in responsible practice.

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