BIOPOL Project – Sustainable Leather Treatments Based on Biopolymers
At Cromogenia Units, we are committed to sustainable innovation in the leather industry. That’s why we launched BIOPOL, a cutting-edge R&D project focused on developing eco-friendly leather treatments based on alginate- and starch-derived biopolymers, as a replacement for traditional petrochemical-based agents used in tanning and retanning processes.
BIOPOL introduces the use of polyaldehydes and hydrolyzed biopolymers as sustainable alternatives, offering key advantages:
- Significant reduction in CO₂ emissions
- Lower generation of toxic waste and polluting gases
- Equal or superior performance compared to conventional methods
The leather industry must transition to cleaner, safer, and more socially responsible production methods. BIOPOL contributes to this shift by reducing the environmental footprint while maintaining the technical performance expected in modern leather processing.
This project was carried out in Barcelona by the Cromogenia Units R&D Department, in collaboration with the University of Barcelona, over a 25-month period, with a total budget of €552,901, co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the CDTI, supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities
