Day one began with a presentation by Dr Mark Wilkinson of British School of Leather Technology on ‘Adding Value Through Education’. As well as explaining the courses on offer at the school which is based at the University of Northampton, he also gave details of partnerships recently formed with other leather schools around the world which include Reutlingen in Germany and CLRI in India.
Steve Trantum of Trumpler International gave presentations on problems that can occur in the beamhouse and tanning processes. Amongst other things, he stressed the importance of good soaking before unhairing and avoiding sudden pH shifts during the tanning process.
Richard Daniels of Greentech Associates was unfortunately unable to attend, so his presentation on tannery effluent treatment with reed beds was presented on his behalf by Amanda Michel of Leather Wise. Hide and leather supplier EMAG Ltd concluded day one with an overview of Italian and Indian leather markets.
Amanda Michel continued on day two of the seminar and explained how sophisticated
analytical techniques such as differential scanning calorimetry, microscopy etc, can be used to diagnose faults in leather.
Nigel Payne of co-sponsor Mimosa Africa Ltd (formerly Forestal Mimosa) enlightened the audience with an insight as to how the Acacia tree provides the industry with vegetable tanning extracts. With ‘chrome-free’ leather becoming ever more fashionable, vegetable extracts are likely to become increasingly important in our industry.
Juergen Weiss and Steve Trantum, both representing Trumpler International, discussed issues affecting the retanning and fatliquoring of leather. Weiss’s presentation on fatliquoring looked back in time to the early days of leather making where egg yolk was a popular choice of fatliquor. Things have moved on somewhat since then!
