EU prize awarded to project for a greener tannery industry
21/7/2016
The ENEA coordinated European project PODEBA, worth 1.2 million euro, allowing for the first time the production of high quality, low cost, soft leather products with a low environmental impact, was selected as “Best LIFE Environment Project 2015”.
The European project “PODEBA” for a greener tannery industry, coordinated by the ENEA Laboratory for Materials Technologies in Faenza was awarded “Best LIFE Environment Project 2015” for innovation and transferability, cost-benefit ratio and contribution to an environmental, economic and social improvement. In over two years of activities (2012-2014) PODEBA (Use of poultry dejection for the bating phase in the tanning cycle) has developed an eco-friendly product based on poultry manure, to reduce the environmental impact of the bating phase of leather tanning, a process whereby the hides for high quality leathers are treated with enzymes to soften them. The use of recycled natural waste in a small percentage (around ten per cent) to replace traditional bating agents would allow annual savings of 300 million euro for the Italian tanning industry and almost double the amount for the European industry.
“We have obtained significant results – Alice Dall’Ara, ENEA Coordinator for the project PODEBA, explained – ammonia and nitrogen reduced by 40% and sulphur reduced by 80% in wastewater and a 30% energy consumption reduction.
40 litres of water used along the entire supply chain per kg of leather produced”.
The treated poultry manure proved to be an efficient bating agent in place of traditional chemical products. The goods obtained are high-quality and have a soft and pleasant feel, exactly like the commercial products but are environmentally friendly and pose no risk to man. The research team has also employed an innovative bio-treatment – patented by one of the Italian partners, the company AMEK- that has allowed to deodorize poultry manure.
In addition to ENEA, COLORTEX of the tanning district in Tuscany and INESCOP (Center for Technology and Innovation) in Alicante, Spain, CNR-ICCOM, ARPA-Emilia Romagna, ISZLER and two Italian spin-offs, Ecoinnovazione srl and Tydock Pharma, participated in the project.
The awarding ceremony of the 25 “Best LIFE Environment Project” took place in Brussels under the “Green Week”, one of the biggest annual occasions to discuss the European environmental policy.
PODEBA is a project financed by the programme Ue LIFE (Financial Instrument for the Environment) for the protection of the Environment, that since 1992 has co-financed over 4300 projects. LIFE will contribute with a funding of around 3.4 million euro for climate and the environment over the period 2014-2020.
For more information please contact:
Alice Dall’Ara, ENEA – Faenza Laboratory for Materials Technologies (TEMAF) – Territorial and Production Systems Sustainability Department (SSPT) - alice.dallara@enea.it