Water Footprint in Leather Tanning and Steel Production
145
9 Water Footprint Assessment in Leather Tanning
Processes
The development of root concept and different water footprints have enhanced the
environmental thoughts of water resources for the better promotion of its sustainability. Water footprint has been considered as a consumptive product that has
early been studied but also degradative freshwater use. For instance, along with
the concepts of blue and green water footprints previously well described, the notion
of greywater footprint has been recently introduced. Green water footprint measures
the volume needed to assimilate pollutants entering freshwater bodies [13]. In this
conceptual framework, water footprint doesn’t only consider the consumption of
freshwater, but also the pollution and scarcity, factors which can generate hazardous
products for human and the environment. Broadly spoken, in order to deal with the
traditional management of wastewater centered on the deepening role of government,
water footprint assessment is an opportunity to show the responsibilities of all the
production chain actors to preserve the water resources. Based on this thought, water
footprint assessment can be easily applied to any industry like leather. In fact, in Asia
and Africa where there is a huge livestock potential, the leather industry remains one
of the most economic sectors which will be improved in a few years. Then the need
to evaluate the water footprint from all the components of leather is necessary.
The leather industry is one such industry that produces products that have a huge
value of virtual water. The water footprint assessment of the leather industry depends
on its uptake of raw materials and the quantification of its products. Generally, leather
consumes 30 m
3 of water per ton of leather in the process. However, 6% is consumed
and 94% is released into the environment as wastewater. In order to deal with the
problem of chromium content in wastewater effluent, the combination of tanning
using vegetable tannins and aluminum sulfate is appropriate. In fact, aluminum is
abundant on earth, and vegetable tannin is a renewable resource. Likewise, the use of
both materials produces a final product with high quality nearly to similar to chrome
tanning.
It is well known the leather tanning is one of the most-intensive industries worldwide. For instance, it uses a huge amount of water for animal raising, but also from
tanning finishing processes. The reduce, reuse, and recycle stands to be a significant path to deal with water pollution and scarcity. The water footprint of the leather
industry should be estimated not only during the tanning but also from animal raising.
It has been noticed that 1,890,000 L of freshwater is needed to raise one cattle, with
approximately 55% can be attributed to the leather leading to a value of 103,950 L
for a single hide.
Another important factor to be considered in the leather industry is that green
water prevails the overall water footprint, representing around 83% of the total water
footprint during the treatment of raw hides. The quantification of the water footprint
of the leather industry involves the water footprints of all the raw materials. During
this process, the use of a wide range of chemicals with various sources tends the
process difficult by quantifying the water footprint of non-raw materials. Conversely,
145
9 Water Footprint Assessment in Leather Tanning
Processes
The development of root concept and different water footprints have enhanced the
environmental thoughts of water resources for the better promotion of its sustainability. Water footprint has been considered as a consumptive product that has
early been studied but also degradative freshwater use. For instance, along with
the concepts of blue and green water footprints previously well described, the notion
of greywater footprint has been recently introduced. Green water footprint measures
the volume needed to assimilate pollutants entering freshwater bodies [13]. In this
conceptual framework, water footprint doesn’t only consider the consumption of
freshwater, but also the pollution and scarcity, factors which can generate hazardous
products for human and the environment. Broadly spoken, in order to deal with the
traditional management of wastewater centered on the deepening role of government,
water footprint assessment is an opportunity to show the responsibilities of all the
production chain actors to preserve the water resources. Based on this thought, water
footprint assessment can be easily applied to any industry like leather. In fact, in Asia
and Africa where there is a huge livestock potential, the leather industry remains one
of the most economic sectors which will be improved in a few years. Then the need
to evaluate the water footprint from all the components of leather is necessary.
The leather industry is one such industry that produces products that have a huge
value of virtual water. The water footprint assessment of the leather industry depends
on its uptake of raw materials and the quantification of its products. Generally, leather
consumes 30 m
3 of water per ton of leather in the process. However, 6% is consumed
and 94% is released into the environment as wastewater. In order to deal with the
problem of chromium content in wastewater effluent, the combination of tanning
using vegetable tannins and aluminum sulfate is appropriate. In fact, aluminum is
abundant on earth, and vegetable tannin is a renewable resource. Likewise, the use of
both materials produces a final product with high quality nearly to similar to chrome
tanning.
It is well known the leather tanning is one of the most-intensive industries worldwide. For instance, it uses a huge amount of water for animal raising, but also from
tanning finishing processes. The reduce, reuse, and recycle stands to be a significant path to deal with water pollution and scarcity. The water footprint of the leather
industry should be estimated not only during the tanning but also from animal raising.
It has been noticed that 1,890,000 L of freshwater is needed to raise one cattle, with
approximately 55% can be attributed to the leather leading to a value of 103,950 L
for a single hide.
Another important factor to be considered in the leather industry is that green
water prevails the overall water footprint, representing around 83% of the total water
footprint during the treatment of raw hides. The quantification of the water footprint
of the leather industry involves the water footprints of all the raw materials. During
this process, the use of a wide range of chemicals with various sources tends the
process difficult by quantifying the water footprint of non-raw materials. Conversely,