Utilization of rice husk as a tanning agent in the tanning process of leather (A mini review)

Abstract

Rice is a food crop which is grown in Indonesia widely and used as a staple food crop for filling domestic food needs. Rice husk is a solid waste that formed from rice grain milling. Along with the increase in national rice production per year, the rice husk also increase. There is silica content in rice husk have a potency that used as a tanning agent. It can be used as a material substitution of chrome sulfate as conventional tanning agent that have carcinogenic properties. This article will explain about tanning process, the potency of rice husk in Indonesia, rice husk utilization, and silica extraction process also nano-silica processing from rice husk. Besides that, it will describe silica and nano-silica usage in the tanning process, mechanism tanning nano-silica and leather properties that produced from the tanning process with nano-silica.