Diagnosing the environmental impacts of typical fatliquors in leather manufacture from life cycle assessment perspective

The environmental impacts of typical fatliquors were diagnosed by the life cycle assessment of industrial production and use (post-tanning) processes. Life cycle impact assessment and sensitivity analysis showed that fatliquor and fatliquoring operation were the major contributors to the environmental impacts of post-tanning because a large amount of fatliquors was consumed during fatliquoring operation. The environmental impacts of fatliquors decreased in the following order: chlorinated paraffin (CP) > sulfonated rape oil (SNR) > sulfated rape oil (SR) > phosphated rape oil (PR) > oxidized–sulfited rape oil (OSR). Sulfuric acid, fuming sulfuric acid, and chlorine used for fatliquor modification gave the main contribution to most impact categories for SR, SNR, and CP production, whereas rape oil contributed the most for PR and OSR production. OSR use process reduced the primary energy demand, abiotic depletion potential, and global warming potential by 38.5%, 56.0%, and 48.5%, respectively, compared with CP use process. These results suggested that biomass-derived fatliquors, especially oxidized–sulfited and phosphate modified fatiliquors, helped reduce the environmental burdens in leather manufacturing. Graphical Abstract