Abstract:
Leather is an unrivalled material with unique materials properties which are compromised in material substitutes It is suitable in luxurious fashion applications and durable in the toughest environments. Leather goods are bought with a price, not only by the consumer, but with an even higher cost to human and environmental health. The number of resources used to process leather and the amount of waste generated in the process is staggering. Per 1000 kg of animal hide, only 20% transforms into usable leather. The remaining 80% is leather processing waste. Air, water, and land become grossly polluted by chemicals and parts of animal carcasses. Leather production consumes limitless amounts of electricity during the leather drying stage. The countries struggle to assuage the constant pressure of the leather industry and to respond to mandates from residential consumers. Tanneries contribute to the demand for fossil fuels and increase the carbon footprint on a global scale. The amount of drying time is not empirically determined. The experience of the tannery workers and the traditions of the tannery dictate the length of time spent drying. It has been the task of the scientific community to predict and control heat transfer to optimize the drying cycle. There are several factors that control the drying time of leather. These factors include of the temperature and velocity of the hot air and the relative humidity. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model using ANSYS software was developed to simulate the drying conditions of leather. The model demonstrates the fundamentals of heat transfer and their application to leather drying. The temperature, pressure, and velocity profiles are obtained and model’s mesh independency is confirmed.
