Pickling and

Degreasing
Assignment # 2

Submitted to: Dr. Omer

Submitted by: Fatima Hasnain (Roll number 4)

Class: MS (2nd Semester)

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Tan yard operation

1. Degreasing
Degreasing is the most applicable process for sheepskin for making chamois leather. This step is
subjected to remove grease from skin that is 10-20% of dry weight. Wool sheepskins, such as those from
the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia, contain a fat layer in the grain–corium junction, as
seen in the image. There is a structure in the shape of a big lipocyte that is closely associated inside the
mass and acts as a barrier to aqueous reagent access.

Cutaneous fat ratios or percentages are diverse and breed based, ranging from 1 to 30% of skin weight.
It is only necessary to remove the grease from all of the hide and skin in which it occurs, not only to
allow for uniform reactions to the skin cross section, but also to avoid odor issues if the fat becomes
rancid.

Cutaneous fat in sheepskin interwoven with collagen fibers

Degreasing can be done in the variety of ways but most frequently used are the following ones:

 With aqueous medium in organic solvent and non-ionic surfactant

 With aqueous medium and non-ionic surfactant
 With organic solvents

Use of organic solvents

For sheepskin, the traditional method is to treat pickle belt with warm paraffin, then rinse with brown
solution. This efficient method of degreasing has fallen into disrepute, due to environmental impact of
using an organic solvent.
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Use of aqueous detergent

Aqueous detergents, primarily non-ionic surfactants, are another option. However, because the grease
has a melting point of around 42°C, processing at this temperature is too risky owing to the possibility of
damage to the college structure, which has a denaturation temperature of around 60°C under these
conditions. Although grease dissemination below the melting temperature is ineffective, water
degreasing of pickled pelts has not yet achieved a widely acceptable degree of development.

Use of enzymes

A further method is to partially hydrolyze the grease with a lipolytic enzyme like lipase to breakdown
and self-emulsify it. Unfortunately, due to the barrier produced by the lipocyte cell wall, the enzyme has
trouble reaching its substrate. This can be addressed by combining lipase and protease in a formulation
such that the protease can break down the protein component of the cell wall structure to release the
components. The downside of this technique is that extended protease treatment produces excessive
damage to the corium, resulting in looseness and perhaps grain damage.

To target the other component of cell wall construction, phospholipids, a novel and more suitable
strategy is to combine lipase with phospholipase. The technique has been proven, but phospholipase
enzymes are not accessible in commercial quantities or at a cost that makes them economically viable.
This scenario may not persist long because a new technology for infecting alfalfa grass and extracting
the enzyme from this new food source has just been developed for inexpensive manufacturing of
phospholipase A2.

Hot water treatment

The goal of this method is to eliminate numerous disadvantages by utilising a relatively basic technique,
namely the use of hot water. Fat melts at temperatures as low as 40-50°C on average. Leathers were
drummed with 60°C hot water and then cleaned with water at the same temperature. The leathers
produced a fat content of no more than 1% at the conclusion of the procedure.

Degreasing is completed in a single stage with 200 %. Three distinct temperatures were used to evaluate
the extraction yield with time: 55, 60, and 65°C. This temperature range was determined based on the
melting points of natural fat in skin, in order to prevent damaging the skins, which are already subjected
to significant mechanical forces during degreasing.
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2. Pickling
The pickle procedure is used to adapt the collagen to the conditions required by chromium or other
tanning methods. Based on lime weight of pelt 100 percent float, 10% salt, and 1% sulphuric acid, the
classic pickling recipe is as follows. The pickling step's timing varies based on a variety of factors, not the
least of which is the thickness of the pelt. Before applying the chrome tanning salt, it is usually done for
about an hour. The following is the sequence in which the component' additions are made.

 To avoid acid swelling, add salt offer to the drained belt and run it to let the salt to be absorbed
into the pelt as a concentrated solution.
 Add the majority of the float, which is theoretically 90%..
 To avoid localised high concentrations of (hot) acid, which can cause hydrolytic damage, add the
acid, which has been diluted 10:1 in water and chilled.
 The pH necessary for the chrome tanning process varies, but is generally in the range of pH 2.5–
3.0, because a solution of 33 % basic chrome tanning salt is at pH 2.7–2.8.

Pickled sheepskin

Float

The total float length has no bearing on the pickling process' efficiency and effectiveness. The
conventional and usual amount of water represents the process's need, in which the concentration of
chrome tanning reagent exerts some influence over the reaction's efficiency.

Salt

To avoid acid swelling, the sodium chloride content in the entire available solution (added water+water
carried over from previous steps +water under the skin) should not be less than 1.0 molar, or 6%. The
relationship between salt and acid swelling determines the connection, however, implies that the
presence of salt prevents swelling, rather than the electrolyte reversing the swelling. There is a risk that
acid swelling will cause irreversible damage that cannot be reversed by adding electrolyte, which is why
the pickling components must be added in the correct order.
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Sulfuric acid and other acids

For its easy availability and low cost, sulphuric acid is the most often used acid in industry. When formic
acid is present in the pickle formulation, it will acidify via the pelt cross-section faster than a formulation
having only sulphuric acid. Because formic acid penetrates, but sulphuric acid does not, the claim is not
exactly true.

The penetrating species in any strong acid is hydrated hydrogen ions, also known as hydronium ions
H3O+. Because it may interact with the protein substrate, an ion with a full charge slows down
penetration. Weak formic acid, on the other hand, enters mostly as an electrically neutral molecule and
thus can pass through the protein relatively unhindered. The penetration benefit of using formic acid in
the manufacture of hides may be enough of a reason to utilise it.

Significance of pickling
Pickling is a key part of the collagen structure preservation procedures as well as setting the
environment for the tanning process. As the chrome tanning reaction mainly includes ionised carboxyl
groups, the main role of acid is to acidify the collagen and protonate the carboxyl groups, modifying the
reactivity. The Henderson equation, when applied to the ionisation of a weak acid, can be used to
calculate the effect of acidification.

The contribution to opening up is an important component of the pickling response. Hydrolysis of

peptide bonds is expedited by hydroxyl catalysis, and the same process is increased by hydrogen ion
catalysis:
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Because it is somewhat slow, this reaction is irrelevant in most traditional fast pickling procedures.
However, there are two instances in which the response is critical:

1. Storage pickling, as a preservation technique.

2. As an alternative to alkali opening up for woolskins, when the wool is vulnerable to detachment
if the process goes too far too rapidly. In this case, wood skins can be stored for several weeks in
conventionally fickle condition, to allow protein hydrolysis to take place, making the resulting
leather softer. Under these conditions, the opening up reactions is much slower than alkaline
opening up, hence are more easily monitored or controlled for delicate raw stock.

References

1. Best available techniques (BAT) reference document for Tanning Hides and Skins.

2. Leather Processing & Tanning Technology Handbook: How to Start Leather Technology
by NIIR Board of Consultants Engineers.

3. Covington,A.,D.(2009).Tanning Chemistry: The Science of Leather, The University of

Northampton, Northampton, UK: Publishers The Royal Society of Chemistry.