The practical reality in Romanian tanneries

Abstract The reference document on best available technique in the tanning industry is well-known, especially by the Romanian leather specialists involved in research activity. More and more ecological restrictions have obliged tanneries to reduce or even stop production. Although there are more than 100 companies registered which list 'leather processing (tanning)' as their principal activity, only about 30 could be considered 'alive' today in Romania; these companies are very flexible, with modern equipment and technologies. Their future survival will depend on substantial financial and human efforts to bring tanneries closer to BAT and EU basic principles. This paper is intended as a realistic survey of the Romanian tanning industry, pointing out principal phases of leather processing in Romania as compared with BAT guidelines. Conclusions * Directives need wider dissemination in Romania, and should be known in each tannery * Technical support and investment needed to solve ecological problems, especially in wastewater treatment and solid waste valorisation * There is a need for a collective European effort in: * collecting or updating information from each country and exchange of experiences between different tanners * R&D work to identify those inexpensive BAT solutions which could easily be applied, even in a candidate country such as Romania. General view of the Romanian leather industry The leather industry is one of tradition and is very old in Romania. The final product for tanneries - leather - represents a 'raw' material for other industries such as: footwear (around 62%), clothing (about 15%), leathergoods (approximately 12%), and upholstery and automotive leathers (about 11%). At the same time, leather processing generates byproducts applicable for other fields of activity: protein sources for food, chemicals or cosmetics purposes, medical products, artificial leathers or soles etc. Between 1965-1980, the most intensive development took place in the Romanian leather sector. It had an important economic value in the county areas of Timis, Sibiu, Cluj, Bihor and in Bucharest. During that period, most equipment, chemicals and technologies had to be Romanian and production was directed at internal consumption and for export to the socialist states. After 1989, the Romanian leather and shoe industry had to compete in an open market and with high performance industries and products from all over the world. At the beginning of this period, the technological level of the Romanian leather industry lagged about 15-20 years behind those of developed countries. In the 1990s, the internal demand for leather products decreased continuously. The socialist market disappeared and the quality and competitiveness of Romanian products were considered to be inferior. Simultaneously exports and imports of raw and finished products became free and the price of energy resources rose dramatically, producing a decapitalising process, with many viable companies being closed as non-profitable. As a consequence of all these internal and external factors, the leather and shoe sector underwent a restructuring process: * Non-performing techniques and equipment have been changed to new ones which are modern and more flexible, and where financial possibilities have existed * Reorganisation of technological flow charts and efficient management of the working area * Modernisation of tanneries, especially in the finishing sector * Significant changes in raw hides/skins processed by diminishing internal resources raised imports of finished leathers for uppers and leathergoods. After 1994, demand for domestic finished leathers decreased drastically Despite all the problems and deficiencies, the leather/shoe industry remains an important industrial sector in Romania; a sector which is trying to increase its product competitiveness on the single market. In 2003, the leather/shoe industry accounted for: * 0.4% of Romanian GDP * 5.2% of industry personnel * 8.9% of Romanian exports * 4.5% of Romanian imports * 1.6% of Romanian industrial production In the international market, the Romanian leather/shoe industry has an important place in the EU, CSI, CEFTA and USA markets. From CEECs, Romania is in first place regarding shoe exports to the EU and is in 9th place worldwide. Table 1 shows the breakdown of companies in the leather/shoes field. While about 120 are reported as leather companies, this does not mean that there are 120 tanneries; most of them have 'leather processing' as an activity but they are processing hides in an existing tannery. Ecological aspects of the Romanian leather industry Industrial development is being achieved in correlation with environmental factors, these representing an essential component of industrial competitiveness. The compliance with the balance between efficient capitalisation of the material and human resources and the preservation of environmental quality, especially in the perspective of Romania's integration in the European Union, is to be found in all sector strategies for industrial development. The Romanian industry is progressively adapting to the new models of consumption and production by: * The use of technologies with low energy and material consumption * The promotion of renewable resources * The diminishing pressure of economic factors on the environment Environmental management is an important instrument for improvement of environmental performance of industrial activities. The implementation of such a system supports the global approach to environmental problems, the economic relief of the impact upon the environment and the effectiveness of the human and material effort in the process of complying with the regulations in the environment protection field. In 2002, the Romanian government adopted Order No 34 regarding IPPC and Best Available Techniques which included the tanning industry. These regulations are not very well known by the factories' technical personnel but they are the subject for some research projects which intend to disseminate the documents and to apply best available techniques for at least some segments of the tanning process. Regarding the principal chapters in BAT the situation in Romanian tanneries is as follows: Management and good housekeeping * Good management in choice of technologies, good maintenance and operation control are applied * Trained personnel are available and have good skills on process control and safe use and handling of chemicals * Chemicals storage conforms with BAT recommendations * Measures to prevent accidental environment pollution are respected * Personnel protection measures against potentially harmful agents and accidents are implemented * Currently there are no possibilities for segregation of waste streams in order to allow recycling Substitution of chemicals * Romanian tanneries are using chemicals supplied by European companies which have representatives and storehouses in Romania (only 5-10% of chemicals are indigenous) * Parameters of environmental releases are monitored by companies themselves and by local authorities * Most harmful chemicals are substituted by less dangerous ones, as BAT recommends, especially in finishing where polymeric aqueous emulsions with low monomer content and solvent free products are used * There are no substitutes yet for sulfide in the unhairing/liming process and ammonium deliming agents (trials have been made for research purposes only) Process-integrated BAT measures In Table 2, BAT measures are presented along with the Romanian situation for the principal process units in a tannery. Water management and treatment Water consumption in Romanian tanneries is higher (75-100m³/1 t of hides processed) because no recycling or re-use of liquors is applied. For Romanian tanneries, one of the biggest problems is represented by the wastewaters; the treatment plants are old, with low efficiency, and the costs are high (a large percent being represented by taxes and penalties). Another problem is that the treatment which is usually made in two steps (physical/mechanical and chemical) on total effluent and no biological treatment is applied. For research purposes, a modern system for monitoring water consumption and water characteristics (before and after treatment) has been used; the treatment was applied separately on chrome containing effluent. The treatment efficiency, obtained when having applied polyelectrolyte on the chrome tanning effluent, was over 95% (Figure 1 and Figure 2). This treatment system was successfully experimented with (pilot level) by the Research Institute and two tanneries and one tannery is working to apply it at an industrial level. The investment effort is significant and it's very difficult to be supported by only one company. Waste management and treatment Chapter 5.5 of the BREF documents states: 'Landfill is not BAT although, in some cases, it is the only option available.' Now, in Romania, it seems to be the only option available for tanning and footwear companies. Before 1989 there were about seven chemical stations for leather waste but now there is only one functioning: the pilot station for the Research Institute. Leather companies are working together with the Research Institute to revive some of these stations or to make some new ones, because landfilling solid leather waste is also expensive. The Leather and Footwear Research Institute has a department specialising in collagen-based products for cosmetic and human or veterinary medicine use. The production is currently directed to collagen hydrolysate for cosmetics and some medical sponges for burns treatment. Some projects included in our research work are as follows: * Innovative technologies for useful protein components recovery and re-use in industry and agriculture * Recycling technology for the leather industry's protein wastes with industrial applications * Innovative processing to obtain composite materials from leather industry waste * Plant and technology for the valorisation of lime fleshings and trimmings in a bovine tannery * Modern techniques and BAT application in order to respect IPPC and for effluent pollutant limitation in a tannery; ICPI is also an associate partner in a Business Support PHARE project 'PERFECTLINK' for which the subject is the dissemination on the Acquis and all other legislative and regulatory issues that have an impact on the performance of companies from candidate countries; BREF documents have also been discussed and disseminated to Romanian leather companies. Conclusions BAT principles and the IPPC Directive need higher dissemination in Romanian SMEs so that they are known in each tannery, by each leather technician. Solving ecological problems in the tanning industry needs technical support and substantial investment, especially in modern plants for wastewater treatment and solid waste valorisation. There is a real need for a European collective effort in: 1collecting information from each country or updating the existing information and exchanging experiences between different actors in this field of activity. 2R&D work to identify those BAT solutions which are not so expensive and could be easily applied, even in a candidate country such as Romania.