Smit & zoon announced the commercial launch of SYNTAN ZLR 100, the newest evolution of its retanning agent portfolio. SYNTAN ZLR 100 is an innovative, chrome free, cationic retanning agent, based on the mineral zeolite.

• More intense and uniform colours
• Significant cost reduction
• Lower environmental impact

SYNTAN ZLR 100 ensures an increased affinity of anionic chemicals and a high uptake of all retanning chemicals, fatliquors and dyes used in the leather crusting process. This reduces the volume of chemicals needed in the retanning process and the volume of chemicals ending up in the waste water, thus saving tanneries costs, both on the purchasing as well as on the effluent treatment side.

“Globally, demands on leather in terms of performance, production efficiency and sustainability are rising,” said Hans van Haarst, CEO and General Manager Wet-end at Smit & zoon. “In line with our CSR ambition to play a catalyzing role in making the leather value chain more sustainable, we are constantly working on bringing innovative, new, sustainable products to the market. SYNTAN ZLR 100 has shown excellent results during an extensive trial phase and therefore, I am confident that this product can support many tanneries in making their retanning process more sustainable.”

Luis Baptista, Marketing/Sales Manager at Smit & zoon Wet-end, added: “During tests with this new product in Asia, we saw that SYNTAN ZLR 100 can increase the cutting yield with 3-5% and reduce the amount of dyestuff needed with about 25%. A Zeolite based product, SYNTAN ZLR 100 is the perfect product when producing clean, bright white or pastel shaded leathers.”

More intense and uniform colours
SYNTAN ZLR 100 increases the affinity for dyestuffs, ensuring clean, bright and intense colours. It provides an excellent bright buffing and writing effect along with a tight and very flat fine pore grain. In milling articles, SYNTAN ZLR 100 results in a stronger grain, less elasticity and a better marked pebble grain.

Significant cost reduction
SYNTAN ZLR 100 ensures a high uptake of all retanning agents, fatliquors and dyes. Thanks to that, fewer chemicals are needed, mainly on the dyeing, resulting in a significant cost reduction. Furthermore, the use of SYNTAN ZLR 100 significantly increases the cutting yield.

Lower environmental impact
SYNTAN ZLR 100 contributes to a better bath exhaustion, a better fixation of all applied anionic chemicals and, consequently to a reduction of the negative environmental impact of the crusting process. Residual floats are clear and have significantly lower values of mineral content, COD, BOD, (organic) nitrogen and TDS.

Application
Used as a mineral retanning agent, SYNTAN ZLR 100 is suitable for the retannage of all kind of leather articles e.g.: shoe upper grain; shoe upper waterproof; shoe upper splits; furniture upholstery; automotive upholstery; hand bags. It is an excellent choice for white and lightfast articles and can be used in automotive upholstery with no negative effect on fogging values.

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