Project: Production of a natural plant crosslinker from olive waste for leather tanning
Olive waste from the production of olive oil or table olives contains multiple interesting substances with attractive functions. Within a sponsored programme “Sustainable BioPro-duction” (PTJ-BIO-0313423) of the federal ministry of education and research (BMBF) N-Zyme developed a catalytic activation process to modify olive by-products whereby it could be used in the tanning-process to generate high quality leather. _x000D__x000D_The activated new tanning agent makes it possible to increase the denaturation temperature of bovine hide, which is necessary for the sheavability in the tanning process. The stabilisation of the bovine collagen was not achieved by ionic- or hydrogen-bonds, but by covalent crosslinks of lysine residues within the collagen-backbone. Based on this bond character leather can be produced which have the same properties (e.g. softness, perspiration resistance) like leather which is produced via the wet-white process using glutaraldehyde._x000D__x000D_Production of the innovative natural tanning agent originating from the activation of renewable primary products offers the advantage of a leather production, where the use of toxic substances like glutaraldehyde can be avoided. The planned production of Olexelo out of olive waste additionally opens up the prospective possibility to reduce or even avoid chrome - known to cause allergies and carrying the risk of forming carcinogenic hexavalent chromium by oxidation - in the tanning process. Despite evident advantages of the new tanning agent compared to common used methods currently the consumer is not willing to pay much higher prices for leather manufactured in an environmentally sound way avoiding the use of toxic substances.. _x000D__x000D_The aim of this project is the development of a catalytic competitive activation process to manufacture a tanning agent from different olive waste. The Spanish company Monteloeder has access to different waste streams of the olive industry. With the broad technology know-how to develop plant extracts formulations and with close cooperation to the second Spanish R&D company NDN the supply of olive waste with constant quality is assured, which is an important prerequisite for the followed activation processes. Based on these source material ttz BILB and N-Zyme will establish two different olive waste activation methods and compare the processes concerning yield, quality, economy and ecology. The applicability of the new natural tanning agent (Olexelo) and the quality characteristics of the OLE-leathers will be investigated by LGR, a notable German leather institute. The goal of the project is to prove, that starting with a standardized olive waste formulation from renewable sources, a non-toxic tanning agent (Olexelo) can be produced economically to generate a high quality leather (OLE-leather). _x000D__x000D__x000D__x000D__x000D__x000D__x000D_
| Acronym | TaniXing (Reference Number: 4379) |
| Duration | 01/07/2008 - 01/06/2011 |
| Project Topic | Starting with different olive waste by-products two catalytic methods will be established to produce a new crosslinking tanning agent. The production and leather tanning process will be compared concerning environmental friendliness and cost effectiveness. |
| Network | Eurostars |
| Call | Eurostars Cut-Off 1 |
Project partner
| Number | Name | Role | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Lederinstitut Gerberschule Reutlingen (LGR) | Partner | Germany |
| 5 | Monteloeder (Mloeder) | Partner | Spain |
| 5 | N-Zyme BioTec (N-Zyme) | Coordinator | Germany |
| 5 | New development in nutraceuticals (NDN) | Partner | Spain |
| 5 | Verein z. Förderung d. Technologietransfers an d. Hochschule Bremerhavener e.V. (ttz BILB) | Partner | Germany |