Background Chloroparaffin has been widely used in the leather-fatting process owing to its chemical stability, low cost and good performance. Today, however, the requirement to meet high environmental standards means that its use is limited. Chloroparaffin has low biodegradability and a high chlorine content. The EU produces some 150 million m2/year of cattle/calf leather and more than 40 million m2/year of sheep/goat leather (Source: COTANCE – Confederation of National Associations of Tanners and Dressers of the European Community). This equates to about 235 000 tonnes/year of leather, with Italy and Spain the main leather producers in Europe. Objectives The ECOFATTING project aimed to demonstrate the use of an innovative technology for the fattening phase of the leather-tanning process, with the goal of producing new or existing products with a significantly higher eco-sustainability profile. The goal of the project was to produce a new category of products of natural origin, capable of substituting chlorosulfonates, which are currently used in the fattening phase during the leather tanning cycle. This project aimed to contribute to the protection of the environment and sustainable development through: The use of natural products that do not exceed the legal limits for the use of hazardous substances in the manufacture of leather goods, etc; The use of products that allow leather manufacturers and consumers of tanned leather to obtain the European eco-label for their products, ensuring compliance with the eco-label parameters related to leather and its processing (including chromium III content in wastewater, and arsenic, cadmium and lead content in products); The use of more biodegradable fatliquoring products, making it easier to treat wastewater from the tanning sector. In this way, less sludge is generated and the consumption of reagents can be reduced with respect to the physical-chemical systems traditionally most used by the sector; and The elimination of fatliquoring agents that favour the transformation of chromium III into chromium VI, because of the disposal of used leather articles and waste leather from the tanning industry. Results The project achieved its objectives, designing eco-friendly alternatives to the fatliquoring agents commonly used in the leather industry. It was able to demonstrate their viability on an industrial scale. These innovative compounds, which are based on a natural raw material (palm oil), have a reduced environmental impact during their whole life cycle. Their production requires less energy and natural resources, while their use in the leather treatment reduces the impacts of the overall process without compromising the quality standard required by the industry. As a first step, the project studied the chemical interaction between fatliquoring agents and leather substrates in order to acquire the knowledge required for designing alternative products with similar performance. Following this preliminary study, it designed and synthesised different substitutes of the commercial fatliquoring agents to determine the most promising compounds. The project team then carried out tests of these on a range of scales (lab, semi-industrial and pre-industrial) to assess their performance as fatliquoring agents. Finally, the project was able to demonstrate that the quality of leather treated with the ecofatting products fully complies with the industrial standard. Moreover, the project showed that using these products reduces the environmental impact of the fatliquoring process. The ecofatting agents are more strongly fixed to the leather substrate and, consequently, less dispersed in the environment (mainly in the wasterwater from leather baths). In addition, they are significantly more biodegradable (around 40% more) than the commonly used fatliquoring agents. The project demonstrated the technical and economic viability of the ecofatting agents’ production thanks to the implementation of a pre-industrial scale pilot process. This pilot scale confirmed the effectiveness of the chemical processes developed in the laboratory and also enabled researchers to estimate the industrial production costs. According to the project results, the ecofatting products are ready to be produced and sold in the market at competitive prices. The competitive prices of the ecofatting products give to the project results a great transferability potential as they can be immediately used by the leather industry without risks of losing competitiveness in terms of production costs. Some concerns, however, still need to be address following the end of the project. These mostly relate to the life cycle impacts of the developed products. In order to improve the sustainability of the products, the palm oil (though natural and biodegradable) should be replaced by a more sustainable substrate. Palm oil has a high environmental impact owing to its cultivation, and could be replaced by waste vegetable and animal fats if properly processed. Furthermore, the production of chlorine also has a significant environmental impact and therefore its use should be minimised. Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report and After-LIFE Communication Plan (see "Read more" section).