Specialty chemicals producer LANXESS has developed a new water-based pigment range for the finishing of leather. The defining features are premium-level leather appearance and brilliancy combined with the satisfaction of a wide range of essential environmental and safety requirements. Offered under the brand name Aquaderm X-Pigments, the products deliver state-of-the-art performance characteristics while meeting all current demands for future-oriented finishing.

Ultimately, the process step of finishing gives leather its beautiful color, its brilliance and its unique appearance. A strong demand for top-level leather products to create articles of the highest quality has to go along with innovative solutions to comply with challenging environmental regulations and specific industry requirements regarding eco-efficiency and consumer safety.

Aquaderm X-Pigments have been designed for all kinds of premium leather applications where a very high standard of finishing quality is required, e.g. in the automotive segment. On the basis of carefully selected raw materials, excellent light fastness, heat and migration resistance, brilliancy and exact dosing properties can be achieved with the pigments. Besides that, finishers benefit from their reliable product consistency, which is extremely important to ensure consistent color reproducibility.

Improved sustainability

Another decisive strength of these organic pigments is the improved sustainability profile of the advanced water-based pigment range. The entire product range consists of solvent-free pigment dispersions featuring very fine particles and only a low polymer binder content. Furthermore, all products are casein-free and do not contain any emulsifiers, brightening agents or other additives capable of causing migration. According to current RSL, REACH and GDSL obligations, the new Aquaderm X-Pigments meet all important criteria which means they are free of VOC, heavy metals, chrome VI, formaldehyde and phthalate.

The Leather business unit is part of LANXESS’ Performance Chemicals segment, which achieved total sales of EUR 2.13 billion in fiscal 2013.