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The European leather industry consists of approximately 3000 tanneries. The tanning industry is a potentially pollution intensive industry. The main release from tanneries is into waste water and the industry is consequently the cause of major environmental concerns.
Many cleaner technologies have been developed and implemented over the past years, which have reduced the pollution from tanneries considerably. However, tanneries still produce waste water, which has to be treated with an end-of-pipe solution.
Typically nitrogen concentration is high in wastewater and normally it is difficult to remove nitrogen due to its high solubility. Nitrogen is a major problem in many countries in that it causes the eutrophication of watercourses and the pollution of groundwater, which is a source for drinking water.
Project objectives
The overall objective of the project was to improve water quality in Europe by reduction of the nitrogen discharge from the leather industry. The new wastewater treatment technology was implemented in the Elmo Leather AB tannery in Sweden. The technology used includes nitrification and denitrification processes in the treatment of tannery wastewater to reduce the discharge of nitrogen. The reduction of the nitrogen discharge is higher than 80%, in comparison to 30% which is expected to be achieved by traditional technologies.
During the project a new wastewater treatment plant will be built to use nitrification and denitrification processes for nitrogen removal from wastewater from the tannery.
The project results will be disseminated to other tanneries in European countries via associations and industrial organisations.
Activities
The following activities were carried out in order to reach the objectives:
- Detailed technical design of the plant
- Building and installation of wastewater treatment plant
- Test trials of the plant
- Monitoring of environmental effect
- Dissemination of information
- Management and reporting
Short description of Elmo Leather AB
Elmo Leather AB was founded in 1931. The Elmo Leather Group is the world´s largest manufacturer of exclusive furniture leather and one of the six biggest suppliers of leather to the automotive industry, and operates worldwide in about 40 different markets.
Budget
The total budget of the project was 5 078 230 Euro and the contribution from EU-LIFE was 913 999 Euro. | 
