Hair saving process and hair separation: which are their real advantages ?

Unhairing is one phase of soaking and liming process for many types of hides.

 The traditional dissolution of hair with chemical products causes considerable limits and problems to the operation of soaking and liming in terms of both quality of discharged bath and higher costs of effluent treatment plant, as for example:

 ·        Necessity of more washings and draining operation during the process to eliminate high concentration of impurities and hairs dissolved chemically. 

·        High value of C.O.D. on the discharged effluent

·        Increase of quantities of sludge disposed at the end of effluent treatment.

Since some decades there are available chemical products that allow to detach intact hairs from their root in the dermis.

Moreover, modern and highly technological drums can be equipped with an efficient and rapid draining system that allows to recycle the bath after the separation of the hairs as soon as they are chemically removed from the skins. The self-cleaning auger filter has the task to separate and export the hairs as well as let the clean bath return back into the drum. 

One single filtration unit composed by filter, pump, valve, control panel with safety device for process, is enough to serve up to 4 drums, depending on the layout of themselves. In fact the needed time for the hair separation is a minimal fraction of the total time of the Soaking/Liming process and therefore the filtration unit can do this task at different times for the various connected drums.

By following this procedure a certain results can be achieved :

 ·        Simplification of the soaking/liming process by avoiding at least one washing and one draining operation: thus carrying also an important water saving of about 10% in total.

·        Drastic reduction of the value of C.O.D. even around 50%, consequently carrying lower need of aeration and therefore energy consumption in the effluent treatment plant

·        Reduction of sludge disposed to the same plant.

·        Great contribution to the "Circular Economy" with the possibility of recovering the hairs, a natural element very rich in nitrogen as fertilizer or others uses.