TANFORLOC is the name of the new project that we started with the Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC), Leather Química (a company dedicated to the production, marketing and supply of high-quality chemical products for the tanning industry) and Combalia (a company specialised in the fertilisation of vegetable leather, dedicated to the production of high quality natural leathers).

The main objective of this research and development (R&D) project is to obtain tannins and other aromatic compounds from Aleppo pine bark from Catalan forests with the capacity to be used in leather dressing. This will make it possible to use locally sourced resources to replace the current source of tannins from mimosa and quebracho of non-local origin (South America and South Africa) in leather tanning.

To achieve this objective, different tannin extraction methods will be developed. Subsequently, the properties of the compounds obtained on a small scale will be evaluated and compared with commercial tannins. Once the best methodology for obtaining these products has been chosen and tested in the process of marinating skins, a scale-up test of this process will be carried out in a pre-industrial-sized reactor and its viability will be evaluated. Finally, our circular metrics team will evaluate the mitigation of the impact of climate change of the substitution of non-local raw materials to those proposed by this project (local bark and new methods of tannin extraction).

This study aims to contribute not only to climate change mitigation, but also to promote the use of local raw materials, such as Aleppo pine bark, to obtain bioproducts within the framework of the circular bioeconomy.

This project is part of the 2022 call of the “Climate Change R&D Nucls” programme of the Agency for Business Competitiveness (ACCIÓ) of the Government of Catalonia.