Leather is made from animal hides and skins that have passed through several stages of processing, from soaking to finishing. Unhairing is a crucial processing stage in which hair is removed from the animal hide or skin through open up the hair and it facilitates subsequent operations. The conventional sodium sulfide-based unhairing process generates a high volume of effluent, which accounts for 50 to 70 of the total biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) load in the tanneries effluent. This study aimed to investigate the potential of unhairing agents prepared from locally available plants. The research employed qualitative methods. Plant materials are collected, dried, and ground. In different proportions, unhairing extracts were obtained from Phytolacca dodecandra leaves, Cucurbita foetidissima fruits, and Solanum incanum fruits. In the conventional soaking process, plant extracts were applied in various concentrations to sheepskin. The physical parameters of conventionally processed (control) and experimentally treated leather were examined using FTIR, SEM, tear strength, percentage of elongation, and organoleptic tests. The unhairing solution was prepared from a mixture of 0.5 S. incanum extract, 0.5 P. dodecandra extract, 0.6 C. foetidissima extract, and 260g/L lime powder lime, and this solution effectively removed the hair from the sheepskin in both hairs saving and hair burning unhairing process. The study revealed that the sheepskin treated with the plant extracts based on an unhairing agent and the conventional unhairing agent showed a comparable tensile strength (42.3kg/cm and 45.2kg/cm), tear strength (140.1kg/cm² and 143.5kg/cm²), and percent elongation at break (40.2 and 42.3), respectively, which were above the permissible limit for leather production making. According to the study findings, the plant extracts have a good potential for removing hair from sheepskin, and they are eco-friendly and cost-effective compared to unhairing chemicals such as sodium sulfide.

The interest in producing textile and textile related product has increased significantly in the last few years. The abundance in nature combined with the ease of Textile chemical processing was an attractive feature, which makes it an important income for the development of a given country. In Ethiopia there is large number of small scale woven and knitted fabric producers. During wet processing and chemical finishing of fabrics, they mix chemicals by using stick. This method will not give uniformly mixed chemical solution, it causes shade variation on treated material and it is time consuming. Now a day there is different automatic wet processing and chemical finishing machines. To but it is expensive. Author designed and developed manual textile chemical mixing and processing machine. The machine can be driven by using hand. The machine has a barrel with mixer. The mixer can be fixed and removed easily during Textile chemical processing.

Industrial effluents have a serious problem on our ecosystem. Tannery effluent contains a huge amount of pollutant compounds such as toxic substances which need to be treated using either synthetic or natural products. The present study focussed on the treatment of tannery effluents using water hyacinth plant leaf extract. Though some researchers have tried to use this extract for the same, the researchers have experimented only to treat that of Cr³⁺ and there are a bit of difference in the methodology they followed. In addition, the scope of this research was wider. In this study, fresh raw WH leaves were collected from around Lake Tana, Ethiopia, cleaned and made to powder and then extraction was performed using different solvents. The solvent effects were examined using the ANOVA test. The tannery wastewater was treated with the extracts and parts of the effluents were kept as a control for comparison. Treated and untreated tannery effluents were compared using standard methods such as SLC 22, SLC 8, APHA 2540C, APHA 2540D, and Hack LCK 139 to determine Cr⁶⁺, Cr³⁺, TDS, TSS, and TKN, respectively. The highest amount of Cr⁶⁺, Cr³⁺, and TKN were removed at 30 water hyacinth leaves extracted by distilled water solvent and that of the least was found at hyacinth leaves extract by ethanol solvent but by acetone in BOD and COD treatment. In addition, though it was out of the permissible limit, by using the same amount of the material extracted by distilled water solvent some amounts of BOD and TDS were removed from the wastes compared to that of untreated tannery effluents. Generally, water hyacinth leaf extract is found effective material for the treatment of tannery effluents and can be used in the sector industries. Future studies may be required for setting the most optimum extract concentration for better results.

Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is listed as one of the worst aquatic plants in the world and its presence in Lake Tana in Ethiopia has been recognized since 2011. Currently, the plant coverage in the lake is increasing and very limited studies have been conducted in the country on practical application of water hyacinth. The aim of this study was to determine the phytochemicals, functional groups and Tannin content of the water hyacinth plant found in the Lake, which could serve as a vegetable tanning agent. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to assess the quality tannin in the plant stem and leaves. On phytochemical analysis of the dried material, the tannin content was found to be 4.1% for leaves and 2.7% for stem parts. As the tannin content of the leaves was higher than the stem parts, leather tanning conducted using the 10% wt and 20% wt leaves and the quality of tanned leathers was evaluated and compared with the leather made from quebracho vegetable tanning material as a control. Most properties of leathers tanned using the leaves met the minimum specified standards for leather product manufacturing, which includes tearing strength > 45 N, percent elongation at break > 42% distension at grain crack > 6.5 mm, and distension at burst >7.8 mm. Even though shrinkage temperature is one of the most important parameters in determining the thermal stability of leather, the leather tanned with leaves extract had a shrinkage temperature of 52°C, which is lower than the standard limit (75°C) for leather product manufacturing. This indicated that, the crosslinking reaction between the hide (collagen fibers) and tannins (leaves) was weaker, implying that the leather would not be as durable or of higher quality. Similarly, the maximum tensile strength of tanned leather was 7.2 N/mm2, which is lower than the standard requirement (20 N/mm2) for leather product manufacturing. Therefore, water hyacinth leaves extract has limited potential as a vegetable tanning agent, and the tanned leather will not be used to make leather products that requires good thermal resistance and strength. On the other hand, the tanned leather may be utilized for leather products that need minimal tensile strain and thermal property requirements such as leather photo frames, sketchbook leather bound, etc. Since water hyacinth tannin is less than ideal as a tanning agent due the minimum shrinkage temperature and tensile strength of the tanned leather, the potential of the plant as a retanning agent should be studied in future.

Nowadays water hyacinth coverage in Lake Tana is increasing day to day. Recently, considerable attention has been given to this plant to utilize and use as economical sources in many parts of the world. However, utilization of this plant is limited in Ethiopia. According to different findings, the tannin and other phytochemical contents of the water hyacinth vary from place to place where the plant grows up. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the tannin and other phytochemical constituents of the plant, in the case of Lake Tana, Ethiopia. The leaves and stem parts of the plant were extracted using distilled water, acetone, and ethanol solvents. The phytochemical, FTIR, and tannin content of the extracts were carried out following standard procedures. The phytochemical analysis revealed the existence of primary and secondary metabolites such as alkaloids, flavonoids, phenols, tannins, starch, and protein in the leaves and stems parts of the plant. The tannin content of water hyacinth leaves has higher tannin content as compared to that of the stem. During tannin content determination the total ash in % and pH value of leaf and stem tannins were determined. The pH of the leaf part was higher; however, the total ash content was lower than that of the stem. The FTIR spectrum data of the leaves and stems of the plant was recorded in the wavenumber range of 4000 and 500 cm ⁻¹ . This revealed the presence of different functional groups in both leaf and stem parts of the plant. The phytochemicals found in the plant parts, including primary and secondary metabolites, could be used for medicinal and pharmaceutical applications as well as for textile and tanning industry wastewater treatment. Similarly, according to the findings of this study, water hyacinth leaves and stem parts have a tannin which will be used as an ideal agent for the tanning and retanning process in leather processing.