In the early 1990`s ITALPROGETTI became the first drum manufacturer in the world to adopt polypropylene as ideal material suitable for all drum uses and so a “silent” revolution was born. The capability to introduce up-to-date technical solutions to a traditional sector gave the possibility to provide efficient solutions to many of the difficult problems experienced when using traditional materials such as wood and stainless steel. Polypropylene drums have now became the “must have” for tanneries wishing to have the highest possible production quality combined with environmental sustainability.

The main advantages of polypropylene drums are the following:

• Easy cleaning → saving of water

Thanks to the characteristics of the material and technical solutions adopted in our design, polypropylene drums reduce contamination possibilities during the different phases of a process or from one process to another. The intermediate washing and final washing stages require less water compared to the traditional wooden drums.

• Great care in leather quality →  no grain loss

The very smooth polypropylene surface and the rounded edges of all surfaces inside the drum (including the lined steel parts) decrease the possibility of any grain damage during processing, even when using very short floats.

• Better control of float temperature →  Saving of chemicals

When compared to traditional materials (wood, inox) polypropylene offers an increased thermal insulation. This gives better temperature control, particularly when combined with other possible solutions for retaining the float temperature during the process.

In addition to providing an important saving of energy, it is also possible to achieve better penetration and consequently a more efficient use of the chemicals.

• Chemical proof →  flexible use

Polypropylene drums can be used in all leather processing stages, even when using very aggressive chemicals or those with extreme pH values, or with contamination risk. For example, it is possible to use the same drum either for a traditional chrome process, for chrome free processing and even for vegetable tanning.

• More internal volume →  more load capacity

When considering the same external drum sizes, when compared to normal construction wooden drums, the reduced thickness of our polypropylene drums give a larger internal volume of between 10% to 18% (according to the size of the drum)