Innovazione e biotecnologie: così le fasi di Riviera e Riconcia diventano Green

One of the challenges that the tanning industry is facing is pursuing the sustainability of products and processes for the benefit of the entire supply chain and of the final consumer, creating value and excellent products, in a more and more pressing regulatory context, in terms of green objectives established by the European Community.
It is within this scenario that Bio Lab arose in January, a laboratory specialized in the development of innovative processes based on biotechnology at a semi-industrial level for the beamhouse and re-tanning phase. The goal is the total elimination of sodium sulfide from the first stages of leather processing: by recovering the hair and fats, which through standard processing are disposed of as wastewater to be purified, a significant improvement in the liming wastewater baths is obtained.

Bio Lab is a project by Leather Kem, a company with two headquarters: one in Ponte a Egola, with the Bio Lab; the other one in Castelfranco di Sotto, with logistics headquarters, administrative offices and experimental laboratory.
Leather Kem is specialized in the chemical sector of the tanning industry and this important and ambitious project is carried out in collaboration with Biodermol Ambiente and Italprogetti.

“We have always focused on the research and development of new solutions, with a holistic vision that encloses the aspects of eco-sustainability – Federico Giglioli comments – with Bio Lab, thanks to the development of these innovative processes, we can significantly reduce the COD and BOD in the liming wastewater. The final project is the industrial development of a beamhouse process that aims to the permanent elimination of sodium sulfide, definitively eliminating sulphates and drastically reducing the COD content in the lime wastewater.

The process tested by Bio Lab is based on a technology of non-GMO and totally biodegradable enzymes, produced and entirely made by our project partner Biodermol Ambiente. For years, they have been the reference point for R&D of organic products for several industrial sectors. These new technologies act selectively on the leather by catalyzing specific reactions without generating polluting products and reactions. As this innovative beamhouse process does not use any chemical treatment, it will also allow the recovery of hair and fats, for a more noble reuse.

The news from Leather Kem does not end here: they will launch an exclusive line of organic re-tanning agents for the European market in collaboration with Atlas Refinery, an American company leader in fat-liquors at a global level. This is a range of natural biopolymers created in a circular economic context: they derive from soy and rice waste, bisphenols and formaldehyde free, with excellent light fastness and dyeability. The challenge is producing leathers that meet the new needs of the tanning industry by eliminating dangerous substances, using chemicals deriving from organic raw materials that respect the principles of sustainability and circularity. This new line of re-tanning agents is produced in the Atlas production plant, with latest generation plants that exclusively operate with renewable energy, natural gas, almost zero industrial waste, and packaging recycling.

Among the upcoming projects for 2025, there is also the close collaboration with Grub, a start-up of services and alternative solutions for circular sustainability that will launch on the market a leather yarn starting from the recycling of leather processing waste.