How to develop synthetic leather industry under environmental pressure

As a major producer of artificial leather and synthetic leather, my country's output in 2012 reached 3.14 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 15.55%. While the output of enterprises and the total industrial output value are increasing steadily, the pressure is also increasing, especially for export to the European market. On December 19, 2012, the European Chemical Agency (ECHA) officially announced the eighth batch of candidate list of substances of very high concern (SVHC), including N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF).

The promulgation of this regulation once again puts forward a severe test for synthetic leather manufacturers. According to the usual practice, the EU's DMF content limit will be tightened year by year until the use of DMF is banned.

As the main export base of my country's synthetic leather, the European Union, in a strict sense, few enterprises in my country can produce ecological synthetic leather that meets EU standards. Facing this severe situation, my country has successively formulated and tightened corresponding ecological synthetic leather standards. In the latest "Safety Requirements for Polyurethane Synthetic Leather for Clothing" standards, strict regulations have been made on the DMF content in PU synthetic leather.

This standard has established two levels. The secondary standard is limited to 100PPM and the primary standard is limited to 30PPM. In recent years, strict requirements have been imposed on the atomization value and volatile organic content (VOC) of car seat leather. Atomization value is an important technical indicator of car seat leather. The current EU import limit is ≤1mg/kg (leather); the VOC content is almost suitable for all leather varieties. The current EU import limit is VOC≤1mg/kg (leather). ). In terms of shoe leather, in comparison, domestic sports shoe brands have high requirements for physical properties and low requirements for chemical substances; while foreign brands have high requirements for chemical properties and low requirements for physical properties.