“Plant-based extracts are our passion.” This is the slogan chosen by SILVATEAM, on display inside the corporate stand set up for the latest edition of the Simac Tanning Tech exhibition, held in February at the Rho-fieramilano fairgrounds. Owned by the Battaglia family, the Group dates back to 1854, when Mr. Camperi established the first plant in Corsaglia di Frabosa (Cuneo province) for the extraction of tannins from chestnut trees, a very common type of plant in the area.
After 165 years, SILVATEAM is still the world leader in the development and sales of plant-based extracts, derived from several natural raw materials, including not only chestnut trees, but also quebracho, Tara, galnuts and oak: a wide range of products successfully used in the tanning of top-quality hides, in animal nutrition, in the food and beverage field, in the chemical, textile, oil and mining sectors, in full compliance with regulations concerning environmental safeguard and human health. Featuring a sales network that encompasses more than 60 countries worldwide, the companies owns several facilities as well as branch offices, abroad too: the main plant is located in San Michele Mondovì (Cuneo province), while chestnut timber harvesting operations take place within a 100 Km range from the factory, namely, in the Cuneo, Alessandria and Savona provinces.
“Our daily commitment,” explained Massimo Gotti, Marketing Manager, “is focused on sustainability, an increasingly strategic topic. The company uses approximately 100 thousand tons every year proceeding from a local forest, that supports a physiological vegetative growth of about 1 million ton per year. In this way, the woods are kept clean and safe, while fostering the development of local economies. We respect the environment without ompromise, as nature is part of our DNA.”
“Sustainability – continued Gotti – also means reducing the use of chemical substances. The recent solution shown at the fair consists of an innovative hybrid tannage using a combination of chrome salts and Blancotan CAT, a new syntan based on dihydroxydiphenyl – sulphone condensation product, with cationic charge. Blancotan CAT can be used alone directly on pickled hides as a pretanning agent to produce a wide range of Free of Chrome leather articles with a user-friendly process. Alternatively it can be used in synergy with conventional chromium salts in any proportion to obtain low chrome tannages with high exhaustion floats.” www.silvateam.com