American Chemical icsa, Uruguay, launched their new nonylphenol free degreasing agent, Imbirex L, as part of their new generation of nonylphenol free products. Imbirex L is a fat emulsifier for all kinds of skins during wet processing. Because of its excellent emulsification properties the extracted fat is removed completely from the system, without deposition onto the leather or the drum surface.
The product has a high moisturising effect on woolskins and is readily biodegradable, giving low BOD and QOD values in wastewaters compared with standard nonylphenol ethoxylates. Imbirex L has been fully tested in an industrial facility by the leather technology centre SENAI-BR, who compared its performance with nonylphenol ethoxylate. The experiments showed lower extractables for Imbirex L, on both a wet and dry weight basis.
