Abstract

The biodegradability of chrome tanned , vegetable tanned, organic phosphonium-tanned, organic phosphonium-zirconium combination-tanned leathers and organic phosphonium-aluminum combination-tanned leather was studied by outdoor soil burial. When these leathers were buried outdoor in summer for 150 days, their biodegradation rate reached 6.87%, 27.50%, 19.92%, 34.83% and 80.88%, respectively. DSC analysis showed that the glass transition temperature (Tg) of leathers with good biodegradability were lower than for those with poor biodegradability.

The results of SEM observations showed that the surface of leathers became obviously rough after biodegradation. The biodegradability of organic phosphonium-zirconium combination-tanned leather and organic phosphonium-aluminum combination-tanned leather were much better than that of organic phosphonium-tanned leather, which showed that zirconium and aluminum were beneficial for the growth of microorganisms and increased the biodegradability of leathers.

Vegetable tanning agents are natural products, so the biodegradability of vegetable-tanned leather was good. The biodegradability of chrome-tanned leather was the worst as chrome was toxic to microorganisms. The study provided theoretical support for the production of environmentally friendly leather and the alleviation of environmental stress.