Leather
United States & Canada
Microbial protection to help maintain the structure and appearance of your leather products
In today’s industrialized leather industry intermediates are shipped all over the world. With a moisture content of around 50% they need long-term protection against microbial attack during weeks or months of storage and transportation. Failure to tackle this problem can have costly consequences.
LANXESS provides advanced anti-microbial preservatives against mold and fungi for wet blue and wet white intermediates. These highly concentrated products, with an active ingredient concentration of up to 90%, offer maximum protection from a minimal dosage, a good sustainability profile and an appropriate value for money. Our broad-spectrum preservation technologies are backed by experts in the leather industry. Working with you, we help you find the right formulation for your application, in your region.
| Product Name | Active Ingredient |
| Preventol® C 40-L | PCMC |
| BIOBAN™ O 45 Antimicrobial | OIT |
Supplementary, LANXESS provides preservatives for the protection of leather process and finishing products against microbial infestation. Manufacturers of such auxiliary products can choose from a broad range of in-can preservation products. A selection of preservatives is shown below.
| Product Name | Active Ingredient |
| Preventol® BIT 20 N | BIT |
| Preventol® BM 5 | BIT, MIT |
| Preventol® CMK 40 | CMK |
| Preventol® D 7 | CMIT/MIT |
Due to its crosslinking properties, Glutaraldehyde is widely recognized as a very efficient alternative technology to Chromium-based tanning. Due to the potential risk of chromium VI formation in leather articles, the need for chromium-free tanning technology/alternatives has increased. Most chromium-free leathers today are tanned with Glutaraldehyde due to the following key features:
- Cost-efficient technology with broad applicability in pre-tanning and tanning
- As a reactive molecule, Glutaraldehyde is completely consumed in the leather tanning process, especially when basified after the completed reaction
- Residual Glutaraldehyde will react with present proteins in the processing float, resulting in no impact to the efficiency of the wastewater treatment
- Due to its complete reaction, there might be only traces of Glutaraldehyde present on or in the leather article after tanning (potential traces are far below the existing concentration limit of 30 mg/kg).
- Consequently, the residual Glutaraldehyde level is too low to lead to post-reactions affecting the quality of the leather or posing a risk to the environment and human health
- When used as recommended, Glutaraldehyde can be handled safely and sustainably
We are a leader in navigating the regulatory environment of Glutaraldehyde, ensuring the safety and sustainability of the technology.
Our portfolio currently contains two products that are dedicated to the leather tanning application: Glutaraldehyde 50% and Glutaraldehyde 24%.