RISING AWARENESS OF IMPERATIVE OF ADOPTING ENVIRONMENT-FRIENDLY TECHNOLOGIES : DIRECTOR CLRI
A.B.Mandal, Director Central Leather Research Institute [CLRI] announced
that CLRI was contemplating commercializing of some of the Technology leads it
had developed in Bio-base processing of leather soon. He was speaking in National
Technology Day celebration function. He said that it would paradigm shift from
Chemical base to Bio base, a more environment-friendly process.
In the leather chemicals sector, the major categories of leads were
mineral syntan, protein-based syntan, vegetable/non-mineral syntan and fat
liquors, while bio-technological leads pertained to enzymatic products and
peptides. “CLRI proposes to upscale and standardise the leads for commercial
application with the active participation of industry,” Mr. Mandal said. The list of technologies developed by the CLRI and transferred to
industry ranges from E.coli removal from wastewater and dehairing enzyme from
animal source to collagen sponge and diabetic footwear. Abhay Kumar, marketing manager (leather) at SPIC, said the company was
keen on seeking technology transfer of two of the 18 important leads developed
by CLRI under the New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative (NMITLI) programme of the
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). According to Mr. Kumar, SPIC had come through initial failures to
develop an enzyme formulation for 100 per cent lime and sulphide replacement
with the guidance of CLRI researchers. There is an increasing awareness among tannery units about the
imperative of adopting environment-friendly technologies sooner than later, he
said.
