PRESENTATION FOR

National Workshop on
India
Cactus for Green Economy in Watershed Projects
Bio leather from cactus biomass
Dr. Anjineyulu Kothakota
Scientist and Assistant Professor in AcSIR
Agro Processing Technology Division
CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST)
Trivandrum- 695 019, Kerala, India
Email: anjineyuluk@niist.res.in ,kothakotaanjanikumar23@gmail.com

1
Plant leather : substitute to animal & synthetic
 Background work
Synthetic leather market 2020 was valued at over 30$ billion by next six years 2027, its
became 40$ billion

The leather industry market value in 2020 $394.1 billion, 13 times more than synthetic
counterpart

We need alternative materials, just different environmental profile, smaller carbon foot
prints.

Vegan leather from agro residues serve as a replacement for animal and synthetic leather

Fashion industry is a multi trillion business and its make up for 2% of the worlds domestic
product

Animal leather is the major raw materials in fashion industry for textile, bags and footwear
% Share of Leather & Leather Products FY 2020-21 Major Export Destinations for Indian Leather Goods
• Pineapple Leather by Piñatex

• Cactus Leather by Desserto

• Corn Leather by Veja

Key Market Players of Animal Leather
in India
• Bata India Ltd.
• Bhartiya International Ltd.
• Farida Group
• Lakhani Armaan Group
• Liberty Shoes Ltd.
• Mayur Uniquoters Ltd.
• Metro Brands Ltd.
• Mirza International Ltd. (Red Tape)
• Relaxo Footwears Ltd.
• Superhouse Ltd.
Key Market Players of Vegan and
Synthetic leather in India
• Flower Leather by Fleather (Kanpur)
• Aulive ( Delhi)
• Arture (Chennai, Tamil Nadu)
• Malai ( Kerala)
• Broke Mate( Lucknow)
• Zouk (Thane Maharashtra)
• The Alternate(Chennai, Tamil Nadu)
• Hamelin (Gurgaon )
• A Big Indian Story (Pune)
• 2 AM by Anjali Mehta
• The June Shop (Kolkata)
• The House Of Ganges (Kolkata)
• Gowma ( Bengaluru)
Inanition of Technology
PROCESS

i. Initial raw material

ii. Pre-treatments

iii. Mixing

iv. Drying

v. Micro thinning

vi. Coating

vii. Curing

viii. Rolling (Embossing)

ix. Polishing

x. Adhering to backing fabric

CSIR NIIST Process

2D Diagram Batch Process
COST CALCULATION
For a 500 kg processing unit, the following machinery is required:

Equipment/Unit operation Capacity in kg Total Capacity No. of batches required & Processing time Approx. Cost in INR

Pulping Unit 500 kg 500 kg 1 batch/1.5 hours 15-20 Lakhs

Drying 500 kg 500 kg 1 batch/6 hours 10-15 Lakhs

Micro thinning 300 kg 300 kg 1 batch/30 minutes 5-10 Lakhs

Coating 300 kg 300 kg 1 batch/1 hours 5-10 Lakhs

Embossing 300 kg 300 kg 1 batch/15 min 10-15 Lakhs

Polishing 300 kg 300 kg 1 batch/15 min 5 – 10 Lakhs

Total Processing Time : 10-12 hours for 500 kg

Total Capacity : 3000-4000 sheets (1meter ) approximately
Total Investment : 60 – 80 Lakhs (447 349USD)
Therefore, an initial investment of approx. INR 60 – 80 Lakhs is required for setting up a plant excluding land and civil works.
COST CALCULATION

Sl.No. Ingredients Quantity Price (Rs)

1 Raw Material 500 kg 2,500
2 Binders 250-280 kg 1,00,000
3 Electricity Cost 20-25 units 250
4 LPG Gas Cost - -
5 Manpower 5 nos 1,000
6 Miscellaneous - 1,000
7 Transportation 1,000
Depreciation @ 10 % and 300 Working days in
8 2,000
a year
Total 1,07,750/-

Total sheets (per meter) produced from 500 kg raw material : 3000-4000 sheets.

Cost per sheet will be approx. : Rs 50-70 per sheet

COST CALCULATION
PRODUCTION COST PER DAY FOR VEGAN LEATHER

Unit Operation Time of Operation Power rate Unit

Pulping Unit 1.5 hours 4 kW 6
Drying 6 hours 2 kW 12
Micro thinning 30 min 2 kW 1
Coating 1 hour 2 kW 2
Embossing 15 min 3 kW 0.75
Polishing 15 min 2 kW 0.5
Total electricity consumption 15kW 25 units
 Continuous sheet production unit design

Total Processing Time : 14 hours for 500 kg

Total Capacity : 4000 sheets approximately
Total Investment : 60 – 80 Lakhs (447 349USD)
Sheet cost : Rs 80-70 per meter
Therefore, an initial investment of approx. INR 60 – 80 Lakhs is required for setting up a plant excluding land
and civil works.
Embossing & Finishing
 Batch production sheets

Continuous production sheets

 Vegan jackets

Vegan Footwear

16
Vegan bags
– Biodegradable Test (IS/ISO 17088) and eco-toxicity analysis
– Shelf-life (yeast, mold, fungi) (ISO 16779:2015)
– Colour (ISO 16779:2015)
– Surface chemical composition, morphology, wetting properties (SEM, TEM, XPS, contact angle goniometry)
– Water retention and heat retention test;
– Wetting studies using water and oil
– Mechanical properties of finished product (ISO 13061-5:2020)
– Water spotting, Water Fastness
– Leakage proof, bursting and tearing properties
– Cost estimation and energy calculations
– Light Fastness( BS EN ISO 105-B02:2014)
– Colour fastness (BS EN ISO 17700:2019
– Crack cold resistance
 Mechanical properties
Synthetic Pineapple Corn husk
Samples Animal leather Banana leather Cactus leather
leather leather leather
Tensile Strength
8.2 – 11.5 13.1 – 24.0 14.1 15.2 17.1 17.4
(MPa)

Max Force (N) 60 – 80 80 – 100 83 71 95 54

Elongation (%) 11 – 50 20 – 90 55 64 74 68

Stress at Break
20 – 50 30 – 85 58 52 72 72
(N)

Force at Break
20 – 60 50 – 100 62 66 71 75
(N)

Thickness (mm) 0.60 – 0.80 0.40 – 0.80 0.52 0.75 0.65 0.51

Width (mm) 15 – 30 15 – 35 24 24 24 24
Shrinkage (%) 5 – 25 3 – 30 15 11 26 15
 FT-IR

banana
Cactus

corn husk
Pineapple
 cactus +banana
Banana + pineapple
Cactus banana pineapple

X-RAY DIFFRACTION
 Contact
angle
banana pseudo stem (100%) Pineapple leaf leather (100%)

Cactus (100%) Corn husk (100%)

Combined materials test

PL BL BGL

Water repellence banana versus mango corn husk versus pineapple leaf fiber
papaya versus coffee pulp
Mechanical properties
Stress at Break
Label Yield MPa Yield Force N Elong at Yield % Tensile MPa Max Force N Elong at Max % Elongation % Force at Break N
MPa

PL 1 6.609772 130.35 102.45 6.609772 130.35 102.45 106.65 5.993672 118.2

PL 2 6.388333 114.875 82 6.388333 114.875 82 83.6 5.748805 103.375
PL 3 5.599525 106.125 78.2 5.599525 106.125 78.2 82 5.256562 99.625
BL 1 6.327107 89.8 96.15 6.327107 89.8 96.15 119.85 3.064913 43.5
BL 2 5.097178 95.2 94.95 5.097178 95.2 94.95 105 2.960861 55.3
BL 3 4.360841 81 79.65 4.360841 81 79.65 106.95 0.942157 17.5
BGL 1 6.820187 129.9 18.32 6.820187 129.9 18.32 55.2 0.693044 13.2
BGL 2 6.750378 128.7 19.92 6.750378 128.7 19.92 73.6 0.731684 13.95
BGL 3 7.257614 140.4 20 7.257614 140.4 20 20.2 6.962967 134.7
BGL 3 6.073858 117.5 14.6 6.073858 117.5 14.6 43.4 0.600924 11.625
Analysis

PL PL
Biodegradability

BGL BGL
BL BL
 Mechanical
8

0
PL BL BGL

thickness tensile

PL BL
BGL
Tests conducted by private company :CSIR NIIST Developed sheets
Tests conducted by private company :CSIR NIIST Developed sheets
INFRASTRUCTURE INSTALLED

Pilot scale facility (30-50Kg capacity)

 Streekaya Services Pvt ltd, Mumbai, Maharashtra
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER for the establishment of 1 ton of cactus based
leather process unit for biomaterials application.
ACTIONS TAKEN 20 lakhs fee

a) Field visits to Nagpur, Wardha for cactus cultivation

and collection of samples trails at NIIST pilot scale.

b) Upon field visit, 5 varieties of raw materials were

finalized by NIIST team for vegan leather production.

c) Vegan leather Sheets developed in CSIR NIIST pilot

scale process and products were shown to Hon’ble
Minister of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Mr.
Giriraj Singh in presence of Director, CSIR NIIST.

d) Vegan leather Sheets launched by Streekaya

Services Pvt ltd, Mumbai, Maharashtra.
 Technology transfer to industry Technology demonstration to DG, CSIR

Vegan leather products launched by CSIR DG

Plant visit by Dr. Lalitha Goyal, Senior Principal Pilot scale facility inauguration by DG, CSIR
Scientist, Directorates-Interface-CSIR
RECOGNITIONS
ISRO Rural development minister S& T minister

CSIR DG Bharat Biotech

 Thank you
Contact details
CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST)
Trivandrum- 695 019, Kerala, India
Email: director@niist.res.in,
anjineyuluk@niist.res.in