The new technique is a mode of conversation of hides without use of salt through lyophilisation, and hence helps in preventing the water that the leather processing units emit from polluting the river. Kanpur is the world's first city where this technology has been launched.
The Minister while launching the new technology informed that, tanneries situated along the Ganga river basin at Unnao, UP, Jajmau, Banthat and West Bengal each day process about 2,500 metres of hides while using around 1,500 mt of salt. Around 90 percent of this 1,500 mt salt that is 1,350 mt makes its way into Ganga and groundwater, and thus pollutes and contaminates the river, he added.
Environment Ministry's Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has patented Lyophilisation which is an innovative technique which facilitates conservation of biodegradable material without use of salt. It works on the principle of sublimation, under which the water substance in the hide is sublimated into vaporized form under vacuum condition so as to make it stable and hence appropriate for storing at room temperature. Read the full report here.
Source: Fibre2fashion News Desk - India
