FRANCO CAVAZZAIndustrial Director ILSA SpA

Closing loop within italian tanneriesF. Cavazza (ILSA S.p.A., Italy) fcavazza@ilsagroup.com

ILSA Spa Arzignano - Italy. Built in 1986, 39.000 sq. m. HQ with R&D Center.(55.000 tons of solid and 2.000 tons of liquid)

ILSA MEDITERRANEO SpaPuglia - South Italy. Built in 2000, 15.800 sq. m. (18.000 tons of solid organic and organic mineral).

ILSA BRASIL LtdaPorto Alegre – Rio Grande do Sul. Built in 2008, total area 400.000 sq. m. (13.000 tons production capacity of solid organic).

WHO WE ARE: THE PRODUCTON SITES

Termalhydrolisis

Enzimatichydrolisis

Supercriticalfluidextraction(SFE)

• R.M.: collagen.

• Prod.: solid fertilizers with specific action on the soil.

• R.M.: animal and vegetable renewable sources.

• Prod.: liquid fertilizers with specific action on the plant and/or on other fertilizers.

• R.M.: different vegetable sources.

• Prod.: molecules and/or compounds with specific action on the plant and/or on the roots.

WHAT WE DO: THE PRODUCTION PROCESS

Product environmental footprint

and

Organization Environmental footprint

According Recommendation 2013/179/EU

WHAT WE DO: THE PRODUCTION PROCESS

THE ITALIAN TANNING INDUSTRY

THE ITALIAN TANNING INDUSTRY

Justus Von Liebig (1803-1873)

German Chemist

- «Plants feed themselves by means of chemical elements»starting of rational use of fertilizers for plant nutrition

Liebig «prophecies»:

2) No industrial activity will survive if startingwithout strong knowledge of a recoveryprocess of the wastes that it can give originto

1) Development of agroindustrial re-use of

animal wastes in agricolture

Leather industry: the answer to Liebig prophecy

Collagen is the main component of animal skin. It is the most

important protein of animal mammals. This protein, when hydrolized,

give origin to a slow release organic nitrogen fertilizer. This kind of

nitrogen it is not easly leached by rain precipitation, and it is optimal

for plants that require long term nutrition.

Leather: an optimal source of nutrients for plants and soil

RECOVERY PROCESS FOR LEATHER SHAVES AND CRUST

THERMAL HYDROLYSIS

Animal proteins are made available to the soilaccording to a pre-arranged time (slow release oforganic nitrogen)

Drying at low temperature make the organic gelatinstable; low temperature (no more than 120°C) isfundamental to not denatured the proteins

Ingredients: Steam @6 bar and bovine collagen

(treated skins)

Total control of the process

RECOVERY PROCESS FOR LEATHER SHAVES AND CRUST

FULLY CONTROLLED ENZYMATIC HYDROLYSIS

Enzymatic extraction and hydrolysis of renewable raw materials

Alfalfa (Medicago Sativa)

Animal

Hydrolyzed gelatin for – agricoltural grade

• Organic matrix for Solid fertilizer

• Positive effect on soil microbial activity

Hydrolyzed proteins and aminoacids

• Liquid organic fertilizer and biostimulant

• Nutrition, biostimulant, strengthener

Effects of ILSA biostimulant on roots – Copyright by ILSA SpA

Effects of ILSA biostimulant on lettuce – Copyright by ILSA SpA

TARGET

• Reduce 20% of water consumption in first wet steps of leather process(liming)

• Reduce 20% chemicals consumption in first wet steps of leatherprocess (liming)

• Recover to market 15% of solid byproducts (sludge from liming and dehairing steps and shavings from wet white tanning process)

• Start up of a technology-hub to share ideas and solutions

• Develop and share instruments to early evaluate cost/benefits of a potential industrial scale-up of tecnologies inside the tanning cluster of Arzignano

TITLE Green Leather Industry For the Environment (greenLIFE)

PERIOD 36 monthes (01/06/2014 – 31/05/2017)

BUDGET Approved Budget : 2.260.000 € / EU Funded: 1.120.000 €

Development of a new liming processes

•Liming process with recovery and re-use of liming baths

•Oxidative liming process

•Enzymatic liming process

Development of a new leather tannery processing

•Studying of a new organic-based tannery product

•Testing to experimental and semi-industrial scale of the new organic-based product

Recovery and re-use of tannery and liming process by-products

•Collection of process by-products

•Treatment or by products and experimentation of a new re-use technology

Water treatment system and new technology: potential impact assessment

•Current water treatment district system

•Liming baths and characterisation of processing by-products

•Assessment of the new technology and potential impact on the water treatment Tannery

District system

Monitoring of environmental and social impact

•Environmental impact: data collection, analysis and perspective

•Socio-economic impact: data collection, analysis and perspective

www.greenlifeproject.eu/

BIOPOL: «LIFE Project that changes skin»

1) Design and build up an Industrial Prototype Plant able to produce green chemicals: the involved chemical reactionswill be Condensations, Polymerisations, Cationisations, Sulphitations, Oxidations, Estheriphications, Solphonationsof biomass and by-products.

2) Produce Bio-Polymers re-using as raw materialssome industrial by-products (from the leatherindustry too) like animal & vegetable biomasses and Builing-blocks from Bio-Refaneries. The involvedindustries will be agro-chemical and lealther. Tanning, re-tanning, fatliquors for the leather making processwill be produced.

LIFE15 ENV/IT/000654

3) Contribute to the re-use of biomasses and by-products actually disposed in landfill, incinerated or already re-used but with high related costs.

4) Prove that the new green chemicals have same or better quality performances than what is currently in use, through the application on leather in small and big scale trials. These trials will be carried out by the tanneries beneficiaries of the projects. A new crosslinker agent will be used as promoter of biopolymers activity in order to minimize their use in comparison with traditional chemicals

5) Prove that the Enviromental impact and the total Water consumption of the leathermaking process by using the new chemicals islargerly lower than the state of the art.

6) Prove that the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) of the new Biopolymers is far inferior than the state of the art leather making auxiliaries.

BIOPOL: «LIFE Project that changes skin» LIFE15 ENV/IT/000654

BIOPOL: «LIFE Project that changes skin» LIFE15 ENV/IT/000654

From PEF/OEF –(EU Recommendation 2013/179/UE)

to «made green in Italy» (National law 221/2015