Soaking

The first steps in a traditional beamhouse process include dirt soaking and main soaking. This is designed to attain full rehydration and to wash out water-soluble substances, such as salt, glycans, such as hyaluronic acid (HA), and soluble proteins, such as blood and albumins. The main soaking prepares for the liming and unhairing. However, DSP remaining around the collagen fibrils reduces the effectiveness of soaking and hinders fibers from being opened at this stage. Targeting this key element, DSP, was the primary goal for development of the first enzyme in the X-Zyme® process. Opening fibers at the earliest possible stage speeds up soaking and this leads to a shorter and more efficient process. At the moment, the enzyme soaking is the only way to soak hides/skins in 4 hours depending on the material.

The rest of the soaking range supplements Xzyme S and is an excellent way of cleaning, rehydrating and degreasing hides and skins during the beamhouse process. Because the extracted fat in the float can negatively affect the unhairing process ahead, our range not only improves wetting of raw cured hides but also ensures optimum emulsion of the extracted fat.

Our soaking products hosts a full spectrum including the star enzyme which has revolutionized the way soaking was done – Xzyme S. Read more about Peltec Xzyme S and how it works here. The soaking range includes:

Peltec Xzyme S – the most safe and advanced enzyme ever used in the soaking
Peltec BH – Excellent for surface tension reduction and rehydration of hides and skins alike. Strong detergency and also works as a bactericide.

Importance of soaking cannot be emphasize enough. Most problems of leathers originate either from curing or soaking. And if these two processes are controlled we have a good chance of eliminating the cause of problems further on. Apart from using the best available technology there are a few very important things to look for in order to ensure proper soaking like checking Bohme, using a bactericide in overnight soaking. Secondly it is always best to use enough bactericide like Preventol Z-L (Lanxess) for overnight soaking. The bacterial growth in an overnight soak is detrimental to leather quality.