Since the end of November 2017, specialty chemicals company LANXESS has started the operation of a pilot plant for the in situ production of the retanning agent X-Biomer in practice. In the modular system installed at the HELLER-LEDER tannery in Hehlen, Lower Saxony, the first ton of high-quality liquid X-Biomer was produced under real operation conditions. It was made from two cubic meters of wet white shavings.
“This is an important milestone for our technology project,” says Dr. Dietrich Tegtmeyer, project manager at LANXESS. “Now it’s time to further refine the technology and to demonstrate the value of the new X-Biomer products in the wide variety of different leather items.”
The joint project “Resource-efficient production of leather chemicals” (ReeL) is a cooperation between LANXESS, INVITE and HELLER-LEDER. It is supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The test operation at HELLER-LEDER will run until the end of 2018.