At the ACLE 2008 trade fair in Shanghai from September 3 to 5, specialty chemicals group LANXESS AG will be presenting a comprehensive range of inorganic and synthetic tanning materials, preservatives, fatliquoring agents, dyestuffs and tanning and finishing auxiliaries. The range includes premium products which reconcile cost effectiveness with environmental protection.
“The Chinese leather industry has been going through a difficult phase for some time now,” says Jürgen Hackenbroich, head of Marketing Asia Pacific in the Leather business unit. “Import duties, more stringent environmental constraints, rising wage, energy and transport costs, price increases for basic and specialty chemicals and disadvantages resulting from export taxes mean that our customers are faced with spiraling costs. We therefore see it as our duty to offer tanneries innovative products which will enable them to improve the quality of their leathers, save costs thanks to optimized area yield. ”
The LANXESS range of polymer retanning materials and plasticizers, for example, has an excellent ecological profile and permits the production of leathers with impressive fastness properties. The right selection of products can reduce the wastewater load of the tannery significantly and also cover a broad spectrum of technical properties.
As one of the leading manufacturers of synthetic tanning materials, LANXESS will be placing the focus of its fair presentation on its long-standing Tanigan range. “We have a large range of syntans with which we can meet the demands of the tanners with regard to fullness, firmness and softness, while our premium products and technologies offer not just technical advantages, but also economic and ecological benefits,” states Hackenbroich.
In Shanghai, the Leather business unit will be presenting its new Tanigan VR grade for the first time. An innovative, sulphone-based, synthetic replacement tanning material for low-vegetable or vegetable-free retannage, Tanigan VR is characterized by outstanding lightfastness and resistance to heat yellowing. It improves the grain tightness and has particularly good filling properties. This innovation offers the tanner technical, economic and ecological advantages.
Levotan L is a softening polymer tanning material that gives very soft leathers with a low specific density a very attractive appearance, a unique and pleasant surface touch and an excellent grain break after dry-drumming – the type of leather that is recommended, for example, for the automotive sector.
LANXESS’s most recent development for the retannage is Levotan X-Cel, an optimal polymer mixture with an innovative technology based on expandable microcapsules. With a diameter of 5 to 20 µm, the microcapsules are small enough to penetrate into the collagen structure during the retanning process. The leather is then subjected to heat treatment in a vaporizing machine specially constructed to LANXESS’s specifications by the Italian firm of Fratelli Carlessi S.p.A.
This causes the elastic, liquid-gas-filled microcapsules to expand to up to 40 times their original size and selectively fill the loosely structured fibers and open vein channels in the collagen, thereby making the leather considerably firmer and giving it a more uniform structure. The Leather business unit will be demonstrating this technology on the fair stand.
In the field of finishing, LANXESS’s X-Grade system offers users innovative ways of concealing small to medium-sized hide defects perfectly. Flaws such as pinholes and cuts are eliminated with astounding success, resulting in a much higher cutting yield. In addition, the new technology, which is based on microcapsules, gives a considerably more uniform embossing pattern, which leads to a very natural-looking surface structure.
The filling effect of the X-Grade system is brought about by the expansion of specially licensed microcapsules, which means it is essential to set the correct temperature when plating or embossing the finish. Finishes with Euderm X-Grade MP are ideal both for full-grain upholstery, bag and shoe upper leathers and for splits.
Euderm X-Grade FGS is a highly versatile finishing auxiliary based on pre-expanded microcapsules for upgrading a wide range of full grain and corrected grain leathers. Euderm X-Grade FGS is mainly applied as a preground in the reverse coating process.
Detailed information on the extensive product portfolio can be found on the Internet at www.lanxessleather.com. The Leather business unit is part of LANXESS’s Performance Chemicals segment, which posted sales of EUR 1,970 million in fiscal 2007.
LANXESS is a leading specialty chemical company, with sales of EUR 6.61 billion in 2007 and around 15,100 employees in 21 countries around the world. The company has operations at 44 sites worldwide. LANXESS’s core business comprises the development, manufacture and sale of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals.
LANXESS AG
