Vegetable Tannins used in Leather Industry and Extraction Methods

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Eser Eke Bayramoğlu
Sultan Çivi

Abstract

Leather production includes a series of process steps in which various chemicals are used. Tanning is the stage of converting rawhide into finished leather that is the main process of leather production. In this process, vegetable substances, various metal salts, aldehydes, polymers, resins, etc. are used by the reaction with collagen of skin or hide proteins. The vegetable tanning method is one of the most established and customary techniques among them and this technique makes use of compounds known as tannins that are derived from different plants. The polyphenols contained in the tannins in the structures of the plants have the ability to tan the leather. Tannins are found in various parts of plants such as wood, bark, leaves, roots, fruits and thuja. Although some plants were used directly by grinding in the past, extraction is mostly applied to obtain tannins from plants. In this study, the plants commonly used in leather tanning and the extraction methods applied to obtain tannins from these plants are described. The mechanisms, advantages and disadvantages of these methods are discussed. This research will enable the explanation of guiding techniques for the creation of substitute vegetable tanning agents as well as the emergence of ideal conditions in the manufacturing of already available vegetable tanning agents.

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