Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Environmental Impact and Treatment of Tannery Waste

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Water Pollution and Remediation: Organic Pollutants

Part of the book series: Environmental Chemistry for a Sustainable World ((ECSW,volume 54))

Abstract

Tannery industry is considered to be one of the most important industry because of their economic, employment, and export potential. At the same time, because of the discharge of untreated effluents, these are treated as primary source of pollutants which has immense potential to pollute the soil and water. More than 200 chemicals are being used in this process, and further a mixture of complex toxic substances, such as polychlorinated biphenyl, chromium, sulphides, nitrates, etc., gets discharged as waste. Chromium is considered as the most toxic to humans and biota along with other environments. Various environmental agencies have enforced regulations related to the discharge of these toxic chemicals in to the water bodies. Thus, removal of toxic, such as hexavalent chromium, from the water becomes utmost important. Less work has been reported for the removal of chromium, sulphides, and toxic substances from tannery wastewater.

In this chapter, we have discussed (1) tanning process, which involves various processes through which leather is produced in the tannery industry; (2) characteristics of tannery waste, i.e. liquid waste, solid waste, and gaseous waste; (3) effect of waste on the environment that includes its effect on the soil, water, plant growth, and plant and animal health; (4) treatment technologies, that involve various treatment techniques through which these wastes can be treated or neutralized; and further (5) tannery waste management.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Ahmad MS. (2002) Biological treatment of tannery wastewaters. Doctoral dissertation, M. Sc Thesis, Institute of Environmental Engineering and Research, UET, Lahore.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alvarez SG, Maldonado M, Gerth A, Kuschk P (2004) Characterization of tannery effluents and study of the water hyacinth in chromium recovery. Inf Tecnol 15:75–80. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-07642004000300012

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Avudainayagam S, Megharaj M, Owens G, Kookana RS, Chittleborough D, Naidu R (2003) Chemistry of chromium in soils with emphasis on tannery waste sites. In: Reviews of environmental contamination and toxicology. Springer, New York, pp 53–91. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-21728-2_3

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Babyshakila P, Usha K (2009) Effect of diluted effluent on soil properties and plant growth. Adv Stud Biol 1(8):391–398

    Google Scholar 

  • Balasubramanian S, Pugalenthi V (2000) A comparative study of the determination of sulphide in tannery waste water by ion selective electrode (ISE) and iodimetry. Water Res 34(17):4201–4206. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0043-1354(00)00190-1

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Barman SC, Lal MM (1994) Accumulation of heavy metals (Zn, cu, cd and Pb) in soil and cultivated vegetables and weeds grown in industrially polluted fields. J Environ Biol 15(2):107–115

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Basegio T, Berutti F, Bernardes A, Bergmann CP (2002) Environmental and technical aspects of the utilisation of tannery sludge as a raw material for clay products. J Eur Ceram Soc 22(13):2251–2259. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0955-2219(02)00024-9

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bibi S, Khan RL, Nazir R, Khan P, Rehman HU, Shakir SK, Jan R (2016) Heavy metals analysis in drinking water of Lakki Marwat District, KPK, Pakistan. World Appl Sci J 34(1):15–19. https://doi.org/10.5829/idosi.wasj.2016.34.1.10252

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Buljan J, Kral I (2011) Introduction to treatment of tannery effluents. UNIDO, Vienna

    Google Scholar 

  • Camplin WC (2001) Effect of paper and pulp factory of Indonesia on the growth and yield potential of cereal crops. Environ Pollut 33:324–331

    Google Scholar 

  • Cassano A, Molinari R, Romano M, Drioli E (2001) Treatment of aqueous effluents of the leather industry by membrane processes: a review. J Memb Sci 181(1):111–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0376-7388(00)00399-9

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cassano A, Della PL, Drioli E (2007) Integrated membrane process for the recovery of chromium salts from tannery effluents. Ind Eng Chem Res 46(21):6825–6830. https://doi.org/10.1021/ie070144n

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cheda PV, Mandlekar UV, Handa BK, Khanna P (1984) Joint wastewater management for a cluster of tanneries at Kanpur. In: Proceedings of the industrial waste conference. Purdue University (USA)

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooman K, Gajardo M, Nieto J, Bornhardt C, Vidal G (2003) Tannery wastewater characterization and toxicity effects on Daphnia spp. Environ Toxicol 18(1):45–51. https://doi.org/10.1002/tox.10094

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cooray N (1999) Cleaner production assessment in small and medium industries of Sri Lanka. Global competitiveness through cleaner production. Second Asia Pacific Cleaner Production Roundtable

    Google Scholar 

  • Dargo H, Ayalew A (2014) Tannery waste water treatment: a review. Int J Emrg Trends Sci Technol 1(9):1488–1494

    Google Scholar 

  • Dixit S, Yadav A, Dwivedi PD, Das M (2015) Toxic hazards of leather industry and technologies to combat threat: a review. J Clean Prod 87:39–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.10.017

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Felsner G, Kiruthu S (1996) Status of the leather industry in eight African countries. Pt. 2: Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. J Soc Leath Tech Chem 80(6):187–190

    Google Scholar 

  • Fettig J, Pick V, Oldenburg M, Phuoc NV (2017) Treatment of tannery wastewater for reuse by physico-chemical processes and a membrane bioreactor. J Water Reuse Desai 7(4):420–428. https://doi.org/10.2166/wrd.2016.036

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Germann HP (1999) Science and technology for leather into the next millennium. Tata McGraw- Hill Publishing Company

    Google Scholar 

  • Hewitt F, Keller T (2003) Water pollution impacts on bean and cereals. J Agron 11(3):175–185

    Google Scholar 

  • Joseph K, Nithya N (2009) Materials flows in the life cycle of leather. J Clean Prod 17(7):676–682. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2008.11.018

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kaul SN, Nandy T, Szpyrkowicz L, Gautam A, Khanna DR (2005) Waste water management: with special reference to tanneries. Discovery Publishing House New Delhi

    Google Scholar 

  • Khan MA, Ghouri AM (2011) Environmental pollution: its effects on life and its remedies. Res World - J Arts Sci Commer 2(2):276–285

    Google Scholar 

  • Khan N, Hussain ST, Saboor A, Jamila N, Kim KS (2013) Physico-chemical investigation of the drinking water sources from Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Int J Phys Sci 8(33):1661–1671. https://doi.org/10.5897/IJPS2013.3999

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kiernan JA (1985) The action of chromium (III) in fixation of animal tissues. Histochem J 17(10):1131–1146. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01002538

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kollar KL, MacAuley P (1980) Water requirements for industrial development. J Am Water Works Assoc 72(1):2–9. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1551-8833.1980.tb04456.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • KotaÅ› J, Stasicka Z (2000) Chromium occurrence in the environment and methods of its speciation. Environ Pollut 107(3):263–283. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0269-7491(99)00168-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leta S, Assefa F, Dalhammar G (2003) Characterization of tannery wastewater and assessment of downstream pollution profiles along Modjo River in Ethiopia. Ethiop J Biol Sci 2(2):157–168

    Google Scholar 

  • Lippmann M (ed) (2000) Environmental toxicants: human exposures and their health effects. Wiley

    Google Scholar 

  • Mckinney RE (1969) Micro-biology for sanitary engineering. McGraw Hill, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Midha V, Dey A (2008) Biological treatment of tannery wastewater for sulfide removal. Int J Chem Sci 6(2):472–486

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mishra P, Bera AK (1995) Effect of tannery effluent on seed germination and early seedling growth in wheat. Seed Research 23:129–131

    Google Scholar 

  • Mizan A, Zohra FT, Ahmed S, Nurnabi M, Alam MZ (2016) Low cost adsorbent for mitigation of water pollution caused by tannery effluents at Hazaribagh. Bangladesh J Sci Ind Res 51(3):215–220. https://doi.org/10.3329/bjsir.v51i3.29433

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mondal NC, Saxena VK, Singh VS (2005) Impact of pollution due to tanneries on groundwater regime. Curr Sci 88(12):1988–1994

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Montgomery MA, Elimelech M (2007) Water and sanitation in developing countries: including health in the equation 41:17–24. doi:https://doi.org/10.1021/es072435t

  • Mottalib MA, Khan T, Abser MN (2014) A simple effective treatment of tannery effluents. J Bangladesh Acad Sci 38(2):235–239. https://doi.org/10.3329/jbas.v38i2.21348

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murad ABMW, Mia MAS, Rahman MA (2018) Studies on the waste management system of a tannery: an overview. Int J Sci Eng and Technol Res 7(4):254–268

    Google Scholar 

  • Muralidhara HS, Maggin B, Phipps H Jr (1982) Conversion of tannery waste to useful products. Resour Conserv Recycl 8(1):43–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/0166-3097(82)90052-9

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mwinyihija M (2010) Main pollutants and environmental impacts of the tanning industry. In: Ecotoxicological diagnosis in the tanning industry. Springer, New York, pp 17–35. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6266-9_2

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Mwinyihija M, Meharg A, Dawson J, Strachan NJ, Killham K (2006) An ecotoxicological approach to assessing the impact of tanning industry effluent on river health. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 50(3):316–324. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-005-1049-9

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Naik SJK, Pawar AC, Vani K, Madhuri K, Devi VV (2007) Cytogenetic analysis in human to assess the impact of metal pollution from Jeedimetla industrial area, Hyderabad, AP, India. Pollut Res 26(2):263

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nath K (2009) Long term effect of tannery effluent toxicity on crops and modulation of toxicity through zinc, iron and potassium. Res Environ Life Sci 2(4):193–200

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Flaherty F, Roddy WT, Lollar RM (1965) The chemistry and technology of leather, Vol. 4. Evaluation of leather

    Google Scholar 

  • Panov VP, Gyul’khandan’yan EM, Pakshver AS (2003) Regeneration of exhausted chrome tanning solutions from leather production as a method preventing environmental pollution with chromium. Russ J Appl Chem 76(9):1476–1478. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:RJAC.0000012670.09621.44

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pasco N, Joanne H, Webber J (2001) Biosensors: MICREDOX-a new biosensor technique for rapid measurement of BOD and toxicity. Biomarkers 6(1):83–89. https://doi.org/10.1080/135475001452832

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pawari MJ, Gawande S (2015) Ground water pollution & its consequence. Int J Eng Res Gen Sci 3(4):773–776

    Google Scholar 

  • Pepper IL, Gerba CP, Brusseau ML (1996) Pollution science. Academic Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Reemtsma T, Jekel M (1997) Dissolved organics in tannery wastewaters and their alteration by a combined anaerobic and aerobic treatment. Water Res 31(5):1035–1046. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0043-1354(96)00382-X

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rusan H, Kamre L, Manser T (2007) Wastewater irrigation impacts on crops with respect to heavy metals. Crop Sci 5:114–118

    Google Scholar 

  • Shastri CA (1977) Noxious smell and other air pollution problem in tanneries, symposium 12th tanners get together. CLRI, Madras

    Google Scholar 

  • Shen TT (1995) Industrial pollution prevention. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 15–35

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Song Z, Williams CJ, Edyvean RGJ (2000) Sedimentation of tannery wastewater. Water Res 34(7):2171–2176. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0043-1354(99)00358-9

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Spiegel J, Alegret M, Clair V, Pagliccia N, Martinez B, Bonet M, Yassi A (2012) Intersectoral action for health at a municipal level in Cuba. Int J Public Health 57(1):15–23. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-011-0279-z

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Srivastava S, Thakur IS (2006) Evaluation of bioremediation and detoxification potentiality of Aspergillus Niger for removal of hexavalent chromium in soil microcosm. Soil Biol Biochem 38(7):1904–1911. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2005.12.016

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stein K, Schwedt G (1994) Chromium speciation in the wastewater from a tannery. Fresenius J Anal Chem 350:38–41. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00326250

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tadesse GL, Guya TK (2017) Impacts of tannery effluent on environments and human health. J Environ Earth Sci 7(3):88–97

    Google Scholar 

  • Tare V, Gupta S, Bose P (2003) Case studies on biological treatment of tannery effluents in India. J Air Waste Manage Assoc 53(8):976–982. https://doi.org/10.1080/10473289.2003.10466250

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Usha ZR, Mia A, Islam MR, Manir MS, Khan RA (2017) Treatment of waste water from leather industry in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Bangladesh j sci ind res. 52 (Sp. Issue):36

    Google Scholar 

  • Yusuf M (2018) Handbook of textile effluent remediation. Pan Stanford

    Google Scholar 

  • Zywicki B, Reemtsma T, Jekel M (2002) Analysis of commercial vegetable tanning agents by reversed-phase liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization–tandem mass spectrometry and its application to wastewater. J Chromatogr A 970(1–2):191–200. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0021-9673(02)00883-x

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Κılıçel F, DaÄŸ B (2006) The relationship between some heavy metal concentrations in soils, leaves and fruits of Starking delicious (Malus communis lam.) in Van, Turkey. Rev Anal Chem 25(4):271–284. https://doi.org/10.1515/REVAC.2006.25.4.271

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the cooperation and assistance received from NIT Agartala. The corresponding author, Naveen Patel, is thankful Assistant Professor Biswanath Bhunia, NIT, Agartala, India, Assistant Professor Vinod Kumar Chaudhary, Dr. RMLAU, Ayodhya and other anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions to improve this chapter.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of their chapter.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, NIT, Agartala, Tripura, India

    Naveen Patel & Shraddha Shahane

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, BIET, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Deepak Chauhan & Dhananjai Rai

  3. Department of Civil Engineering, Government Polytechnic College, Gonda, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Md. Zafar Ali Khan

  4. Department of Bio Engineering, National Institute of Technology Agartala, Agartala, Tripura, India

    Biswanath Bhunia

  5. Department of Environmental Sciences, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University, Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Vinod Kumar Chaudhary

Authors
  1. Naveen Patel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Shraddha Shahane
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Deepak Chauhan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Dhananjai Rai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Md. Zafar Ali Khan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Biswanath Bhunia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Vinod Kumar Chaudhary
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Chemistry Zakir Husain College of Engineering and Technology Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India

    Inamuddin

  2. Department of Chemistry Faculty of Science, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India

    Mohd Imran Ahamed

  3. CNRS, IRD, INRAE, Coll France, CEREGE, Aix-Marseille University, Aix-en-Provence, France

    Eric Lichtfouse

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Patel, N. et al. (2021). Environmental Impact and Treatment of Tannery Waste. In: Inamuddin, Ahamed, M.I., Lichtfouse, E. (eds) Water Pollution and Remediation: Organic Pollutants. Environmental Chemistry for a Sustainable World, vol 54. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52395-4_16

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation