Pages 321–323
Abstract
Research summary supplied by the authors
Globally, tanneries are producing approximately 6 million tons of solid and liquid waste per year. About 80% of solid wastes produced during leather process are generated from pre-tanning stage, whereas 20% of wastes are generated during post-tanning operation. Fleshing waste is considered to be one of the major solid wastes, which is rich in proteins and fat. The current disposal methods of fleshing wastes have various challenges and limitations. Conversion of fleshing waste into activated carbon and incorporating it into electro spun fibers is one of the sustainable approaches for developing a composite material and waste management strategy. Converting leather solid waste to activated carbon plays a significant contribution to reduce major landfill burden. Also, the activated carbon produced from leather solid waste shows a large surface area, high porosity, and other physical properties as compared to activated carbon produced from other sources. The process of making activated carbon consists of two phases. The first step involves carbonization of the raw material in the presence of nitrogen or argon atmosphere. The second step is the activation of carbonized material, which can be physical or chemical. The activated carbon prepared is incorporated into PVA solution which was then electro-spun to produce activated carbon embedded PVA nanofibers. These nanofibers were further processed for stability and the nanofibers were tested for the adsorption of organic pollutants.