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Stabilization of collagen against heat and enzyme is a key objective in the tanning process. In oil tanning, fatty acid present in the oil is oxidised mainly into aldehydes which interects with ? amino groups of collagen to form stable covalent cross links. Conventionally, oil tanning consumes time from two to three weeks which primarily depends on the type of oil and oxidation method for completion of tanning. In the present research, the duration of oil oxidation is reduced using benzenecarboperoxoic acid (PBA). It has been observed that PBA significantly reduces oil tanning duration from two weeks to 4 days. Moreover, the water absorption capacity of experimental leather has also increased by approximately 48% (1% PBA) compared to control leather. Physical strength properties such as tensile and percentage elongation values have also found to meet the standard norms. In addition to this organoleptic properties are also on par with control leather. The present study focus on the accelaration of chamois process for making leather, using PBA as an oxidising agent.

The control of pH of a process plays an important role in many chemical or biological reactions. The monitoring and control of pH of processes like wastewater treatment, manufacturing food and leather making facilitate to reduce pollution and improve the quality of the final product. The focus of this study is to optimize the usage of lime and recycling of spent liquor through continuous monitoring system of pH to achieve near zero residue from liming operation. But the challenges are nonlinear behaviour of the system and frequent fouling of pH sensors. The system developed monitors the pH values and controls the cycling time and the addition of lime as per the user set profile. The real time data of pH values in the process is logged on to the PC for further analysis. The efficacy of the system developed was validated at lab level and can be easily scaled up for implementation in industries. The results showed that the effluent from leather making can be minimized by adopting automated pH monitoring and control systems.