Wet Blue

Wet blue production (so called because the semi-finished hide is given a chrome bath which imparts a bluish tint). This process involves removing unwanted substances (salt, flesh, hair, and grease) from a rawhide (by soaking in a bath of lime and sodium sulfide to dissolve hair and flesh), trimming it treating it to impart the desired grain and stretch, and finally soaking it in a chrome bath to prevent decomposition.  This step is far more polluting than finishing, generating 90% of the water pollution associated with leather tanning.
Finishing – Finishing involves splitting, shaving and re-tanning the wet blue (this is where the
Waste stream comes in from the splitting and shaving. Each year 1.2 Billion hide are produced globally. From 1000kg of Raw hides 850kg of wasted will be created and 40% of that waste come in the form of wet blue. It is currently disposed of as a hazardous waste due to the chromium used within the tanning.
There has been no previous test in a concrete mix but I think it has real potential for making a highly nutritional concrete with a porous texture.

Properties:

Organic base, High in nitrogen/protein, high water absorption, Fibrous, course texture .

Based on Properties what can this do?
• Nutrition for plant growth
• Porous texture
• Used as core to act as a moisture sink

To what extent can it meet the projects aims?

To create an architectural façade system that will be made from a low carbon based concrete and use a waste stream that can act as a carbon sink to be used as a habitat for the growth of plants/ microbe / microorganisms.

• Permeability
• Large surface area for carbonation
• Growth on Façade
• All of this will need to be tested

P.S this has a highly chemical smell (probably the chromium) but is the greatest shade of blue