See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/309286822

Valorization of Tannery Limed Fleshings Through Fat Extraction: An

Approach to Utilize By-Product

Article  in  Waste and Biomass Valorization · June 2017

DOI: 10.1007/s12649-016-9705-z

CITATIONS READS

11 529

2 authors:

Md. Abul Hashem Md. Shahruk Nur-A-Tomal

Khulna University of Engineering and Technology Monash University (Australia)
100 PUBLICATIONS   664 CITATIONS    36 PUBLICATIONS   345 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Tannery Waste Management View project

Wastewater treatment View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Md. Abul Hashem on 13 June 2018.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Waste Biomass Valor (2017) 8:1219–1224
DOI 10.1007/s12649-016-9705-z
ORIGINAL PAPER
Valorization of Tannery Limed Fleshings Through Fat
Extraction: An Approach to Utilize By-Product
Md. Abul Hashem1 • Md. Shahruk Nur-A-Tomal1
Received: 4 May 2016 / Accepted: 19 September 2016 / Published online: 24 September 2016
Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016
Abstract The present work is intended to develop a fat
extraction method from the limed fleshings for soap pro-
duction. In leather processing, just after washing, following
the liming process, swollen pelts (lime treated hide/skin)
have to pass through an operation to remove the remaining
fat and flesh from the flesh side in order to improve the
diffusion of chemicals into pelt is known as fleshing.
Fleshing is the indispensable mechanical operations in
leather processing where substantial amounts of
inevitable solid waste (termed as fleshings) are produced.
Generally, fleshings are kept indiscriminately nearly the
industrial area as green, which has negative effects on the
environment including human health. It contains a con-
siderable amount of fat, which could be a great source for
soap production. To extract fat, firstly collected cowhide
fleshings were delimed with boric acid and hydrochloric
acid for 5–6 h. The delimed fleshings were heated in a
water bath to separate fat from its structure. The optimized
extraction conditions were: temperature 75 °C; time 3 h;
without agitation. It was estimated that 6.2 % (dry weight)
fat was extractable and yearly 638.6 MT fat could be
extracted only from the cowhide fleshings in Bangladesh.
Finally, soap was prepared from the extracted fat by
saponification using sodium hydroxide. The soap was sol-
uble in distilled water, which has good lathering and
cleansing power. The process could be optimized for large-
scale production, which would be allowed to produce a
new product for the commercial use. The approach could
& Md. Abul Hashem
hashem_518@yahoo.com; mahashem@le.kuet.ac.bd
1 Leather processing (tanning) is a complex procedure
Department of Leather Engineering, Khulna University of
Engineering and Technology (KUET), Khulna 9203,
Bangladesh
also contribute a significant reduction in the environmental
impact of inevitable solid waste and decrease the costs
associated with disposal.
Keywords Tannery solid waste  Limed fleshings 
Environment  Fat  By-product  Soap
Introduction
Cleaner production has become a critical issue for the
industrial sectors, especially the leather sector to regulate
environmental obligations. Therefore, tanneries are faced
with dual obligations: (1) using fewer chemicals more
effectively, and (2) improving the treatment technologies
of all the forms of process residues [1]. The leather sector
is one of the most export-oriented sectors of Bangladesh,
which plays an important role in the national economy.
According to the Export Promotion Bureau, in the fiscal
year 2015–2016 leather sector earned US$1.21 billion by
exporting leather, leather products, and footwear [2]. But
due to generating the vigorous amount of environmental
pollutants, the tannery has been categorized as ‘red’ cate-
gory industry [3].
Tannery waste generation, disposal, and management
are causing serious problems to survive tannery, especially
in Bangladesh. Tannery produces a huge amount of envi-
ronmental pollutants in the form of solid, liquid and gas-
eous besides it consumes substantial amounts of energy.
The approaches of tannery waste management applied are
not sufficient; considerable portions of such solid waste are
used for landfills [4].
comprising of several technological steps to shield the raw
hide/skin against microbiological degradation as well as to
123
1220
stabilize collagen with defined tanning agents which pro-
duce a significant amount of waste. A group of researchers
reported that every 10 kg of raw hide/skin processing
converts only 2 kg of raw materials into leather and more
than 6 kg is generated as solid wastes [5]. Of course,
generation of solid waste is related to the characteristics of
the raw material and manufacturing process of hide/skin.
There are 220 tanneries in Bangladesh; most of them are
located at Hazaribagh, Dhaka. Daily 100 tons solid waste
is produced from the tannery in the form of trimmings of
finished leather, shaving dust, hairs, trimmed animal flesh
skin/hide which contaminate the soil and water [6]. Most of
the tannery solid wastes are generated from pre-tanning
operations, especially in fleshing operation.
In tannery, firstly raw hide/skin undergoes the operation
so-called unhairing and liming (commonly known as lim-
ing). In conventional liming operation, sodium sulfide and
lime are used to remove keratinous substances (hair, wool,
epidermis, etc.), interfibrillary proteins (albumins, globu-
lins etc.) [7]. After liming, pelt (lime treated hide/skin) has
to pass through an operation known as ‘Fleshing’. Fleshing
is one of the most indispensable mechanical operations in
leather processing where substantial amounts of
inevitable solid waste (termed as fleshings) are produced.
The ‘fleshing operation’ involves cutting or removing the
unwanted part from the flesh side of pelt to improve the
diffusion of tanning agents and chemical uptake into pelt
from the flesh side. It is not possible to omit the fleshing
operation as skipping it causes chemical wastage, as well
as good quality leather, could not be produced. It is
reported that fleshings are the 50–60 % of total solid
wastes generated in the tanning industry [8].
In Bangladesh, yearly 33.80 thousand tons wet salted
cowhide and 24.80 thousand tons wet salted goatskin are
taken for leather production in which 10.3 9 103 MT
fleshings from the wet salted cowhide and 9.8 9 103 MT
fleshings from the wet salted goatskin are generated during
fleshing operation [9]. The produced a huge amount of
fleshings is kept indiscriminately inside or outside the
industrial area as green (without treatment). Generally,
tanneries collect fleshings in wheelbarrows and dump
nearby tannery area. The fleshings are dumped at the western
part of Hazaribagh near Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra (DND)
dam. As stated, fleshings contain proteinaceous substances
that are hydrolyzed to amino acids through proteolytic
bacteria; amino acids are further hydrolyzed by bacteria,
which liberate gaseous ammonia (NH3), hydrogen (H2),
carbon dioxide (CO2), volatile fatty acids (VFAs) etc., that
are directly merged to the air [10]. The VFAs help to gen-
erate toxic hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas from the fleshings.
Individuals of the tannery area are frequently inhaled the
liberated gaseous substances and suffering in difficulties.
Fleshings also have a negative effect on water and soil.
123
Waste Biomass Valor (2017) 8:1219–1224
Fleshings are composed of various constituents, e.g. sub-
cutaneous tissue, fat and flesh among them fat content is
4–18 % [11] although the fat content varies according to the
type of animal, feeding, climate and flaying method.
Many researchers have investigated to utilize fleshings
to produce feed ingredients [12], compost [13], biogas
[10, 14], and biodiesel [15–17]. Few literatures present for
extraction of fat from the fleshings and using it for soap
making [18].
The objective of this work was to optimize fat extraction
process from the fleshings of cowhide and to utilize the
extracted fat in new products e.g. soap, glycerin etc. pro-
duction. The initiative could reduce the pollution load
generated by the tannery and also produce more commer-
cially useable products.
Materials and Methods
Materials
Cowhide fleshings were collected from SAF Leather
Industries Ltd., Jessore, Bangladesh just after fleshing
operation in a polyethylene bag and brought back to the
laboratory immediately for experimentation. Chemicals
which are generally used in the tannery were used for the
experiments. Boric acid (commercial grade), hydrochloric
acid (commercial grade), sodium hydroxide (HACH, USA)
and sodium chloride (edible) were used to obtain different
action. Reagents which were used to determine total fat,
iodine value, saponification value, and acid value, were
purchased from Merck Limited (India).
Characterization of Fleshings
pH, moisture, and total fat content of the collected fleshings
were quantified in the laboratory. Moisture content (%) and
total fat (%) was determined using standard methods as
described in literature [19]. The pH was determined fol-
lowing method as described in literature [9]. Liquid was
collected by squeezing the fleshings; the obtained liquid’s
pH was recorded with a pH meter (UPH-314, UNILAB,
USA). Before pH measuring, the pH meter was calibrated
using the standard solutions of pH 4.0, 7.0 and 9.0. To
determine the moisture content of the fleshings, about 5 g
fleshings were heated at 103 ± 2 °C in drying oven until
constant weight was obtained. The moisture content was
determined by calculating the % ratio of weight difference
of wet and dried fleshings to the weight of wet fleshings.
To determine the total fat content in the fleshings, firstly
the fat was extracted from the fleshings by Soxhlet
extractor using ethanol as solvent. After extraction of fat
from the fleshings, the mixture of fat and ethanol was
Waste Biomass Valor (2017) 8:1219–1224
transferred into a distilling flask. The ethanol was evapo-
rated from the distilling flask by heating at drying oven
until constant weight was obtained. The dry weight of total
fat was calculated by the following Eq. (1).
W1  W2
Extracted fatð%Þ ¼  100 ð1Þ
W3
W1 = Weight of the distilling flask with extracted fat after
drying; W2 = Weight of the blank distilling flask; W3 =
Weight of the fleshings taken in Soxhlet extractor after drying.
Deliming of Fleshings
The collected fleshings were washed with water to remove
unbound/free lime. Fleshings were chopped with knife into
small size to facilitate the next operation. The fleshings
were delimed with 2 % (w/w) boric acid for about 5–6 h to
remove chemically bound lime. The pH of delimed flesh-
ings was adjusted to 6–7 by treating with the diluted
hydrochloric acid and further washed with water.
Extraction of Fat from Cowhide Fleshings
The delimed fleshings were subjected to heating with water
(water: fleshings = 1:1) in a beaker in water bath for 1–5 h.
After clearly separation of the fat from the fleshings, the
mixture was transferred to a separating funnel and finally the
fat was separated from the aqueous phase. The residual
water, in fat was then distilled off. The extracted fat is shown
in Fig. 1. The physicochemical parameters such as iodine
value and saponification value of the extracted fat were
determined by the following DIN 53241/IP 84/81, and ISO
3657 standard methods respectively.
Optimization of Extraction Process
Assays were carried out to optimize the extraction process
by varying the parameters like water bath temperature,
Fig. 1 Extracted cowhide fat
1221
extraction time, and agitation, so that higher amount along
with better quality fat could be attained for large scale
extraction. The experiments performed for optimization of
fat extraction are shown in Table 1. The optimized condi-
tions were established by investigating the percentage and
the acid value of the extracted fat from the fleshings. The
amount of extracting fat (%) was determined as discussed in
the previous section (characterization of fleshings).
The acid value of extracting fat was determined by
following ISO EN 3682 standard method. A standard acid–
base titration with a standard solution of 1.0 M potassium
hydroxide solution was performed to measure the acid
value.
Preparation of Soap
The extracted fat (20 g) was taken in a beaker (250 mL)
and heated to melt. Then 20 % sodium hydroxide (25 mL)
was poured, the mixture was constantly heated and stirred
on a magnetic stirring hotplate at 80–100 °C temperature to
speed up the saponification process. Because of heating,
some of the solvent (water) was evaporated, so water was
added to the beaker in order to maintain the same volume.
After saponifying fat with sodium hydroxide, the liquid
was become stringy and muddy looking before it was
turned uniformly into a clear mixture of soap and glycerin.
After 6–8 h, the froth no longer rised and large white
bubbles popped on the surface, the end of saponification
was determined by ribbon test and taste test [20].
After completing saponification, the soap solution was
poured into saturated sodium chloride (100 mL) solution in
a beaker (500 mL) and stirred with a stirring rod. The soap
was coagulated into a solid mass and floated on the surface
of the solution. Then beaker was placed into an ice-water
bath. The solution was then filtered using a wire screen
(instead of filter paper) to collect soap. The soap was then
rinsed twice with ice-water (10 mL) to remove the excess
sodium hydroxide. Once the rinsed soap has been drip
dried, it is moved to a paper towel to finish drying. Then
the soap was dried and it was allowed for curing for several
days.
Table 1 Factors of fat extraction from fleshings and its experimental
levels
Temperature (°C) Time (h) Agitation
55 1 Yes
65 2 No
75 3
85 4
95 5
123
1222
Properties of Soap
Determination of Solubility
The solubility of the soap in water was examined following
method as described in literature [21]. 1 g soap and 10 mL
distilled water were taken into a test tube. Then the soap
and water were mixed well and observations were made to
determine the solubility level.
Determination of pH
The soap (about 1 g) was dissolved in distilled water
(10 mL) in a beaker and the pH of the soap solution was
measured by using the pH meter (UPH-314, UNILAB,
USA).
Determination of Lathering Power
2 mL of distilled water was added into a test tube. An equal
amount of soap solution was added to test tube and shaken
vigorously by placing a stopper of the tube and generation
of permanent lather and lasting at least in 30 s was
observed.
Determination of Cleansing Power
A drop of used brake oil was placed on a separate thin strip
of filter paper. It was made sure that the strip of filter paper
was fitted in the test tube. Filter paper with oil spot was
placed in the tube containing soap in water. The tube was
shaken well and made sure that the filter paper was
immersed in the solution. After 2 min, the filter paper was
removed and rinsed with tap water. The observation was
made that whether if the oil of the filter paper strips get
washed out or not.
Results and Discussion
Characteristics of Fleshings
Table 2 shows the characteristics of the collected fleshings.
It seems that pH ([12) was highly alkaline because of the
introduction of lime and sodium sulfide in liming
Table 2 Characteristics of untreated cowhide fleshings
Parameter Value
pH 12.2 ± 0.1
Total fat (%) 9.1 ± 0.2
Moisture content (%) 66.3 ± 0.4
123
Waste Biomass Valor (2017) 8:1219–1224
operation. Therefore, it was necessary to neutralize flesh-
ings by means of deliming to eliminate sodium sulfide and
lime. Fleshings contained 9.1 % fat, which designates that
they could be used as raw material for other industries as a
source of fat. The simple technique could be employed to
extract fat from the fleshings.
Optimization of Extraction Process
The results obtained from assays to determine the effect of
agitation to extract fat from the fleshings are represented in
Fig. 2. A negative result was perceived with agitation.
Agitation increased the percentage of extracted fat, but
contrarily increased the acid value, i.e. contributed con-
tamination of free fatty acid which was undesirable. With
agitation leads to degrading fat, thus, significantly acid
value was increased. The best extraction of fat was attained
without agitation.
Experiments were carried out to determine the optimum
time for extraction of fat. Figure 3 discloses the effect of
extraction time, which indicates that with the increase of
time the percentage of extracted fat was increased signifi-
cantly to a certain level beyond this small increase, was
encountered and an acid value of extracted fat was
increased expressively. As beyond certain extraction time,
the actual little amount of fat was extracted oppositely the
extracted fat gets degraded consequently acid value was
increased. According to the analysis outcomes, 3 h was
selected as the optimal extraction time.
The water bath temperature had a significant effect on
extraction of fat, which is represented in Fig. 4. It is
observed that the acid value of extracting fat was increased
noticeably in elevated temperature, which indicates
degradation of fat is more at a higher temperature. At the
same time with increasing temperature, the percentage of
extracting fat was increased extensively to a certain level;
80 Extracted fat (%) 80
Acid value (mg/g)
70 70
Extracted fat (%)
Acid value (mg/g)
60 60
50 50
40 40
30 30
20 20
10 10
0 0
No Yes
Agitation
Fig. 2 Effect of agitation on fat extraction
Waste Biomass Valor (2017) 8:1219–1224 1223

Extracted fat (%) 80

Table 3 Properties of the extracted cowhide fat and comparison with
80
Acid value (mg/g) others
70 70
Parameters This study [22] [23]

Acid value (mg/g)

60 60
Extracted fat (%)

Physical state at room temperature Solid – –

50 50 Iodine value (mg I2/g fat) 52.1 ± 0.6 40.86 43.7
Saponification value (mg KOH/g fat) 188.5 ± 0.9 198.63 175.0
40 40
Acid value (mg KOH/g fat) 32.0 ± 0.4 73.96 2.5
30 30

20 20

10 10
Table 4 Properties of the soap
0 0
1 2 3 4 5 Parameters Observation
Extraction time (h) Color Milky white
Solubility in water Soluble
Fig. 3 Effect of time on fat extraction
pH 8–9
Lathering power Good
80 Extracted fat (%) 80 Cleansing Power Good
Acid value (mg/g)
70 70

Researches on this issue could contribute a significant

Acid value (mg/g)
Extracted fat (%)

60 60
valorization of inevitable solid wastes besides reduction of
50 50
its environmental impact.
40 40
Characteristics of Extracted Fat
30 30

20 20 The physicochemical parameters of extracting fat and

10 10 comparison with other researchers’ outcome are shown in
Table 3. The extracting fat was solid in physical state. It
0 0
55 65 75 85 95 seems that the saponification value, iodine value and acid
Temperature (°C) value were satisfactory comparing to others. It was clear
from the characteristics of extracted fat that the extracting
Fig. 4 Effect of temperature on fat extraction fat was suitable for various products e.g. soap.

beyond this level slight increase in the percentage of
extracting fat was observed. Based on the experimental
data, temperature 75 °C was considered as optimal
extraction time.
Since the observations, it could be concluded that the
best extraction conditions were found: temperature 75 °C;
time 3 h; without agitation.
Estimation of Extracted Fat
It was calculated that 6.2 % (dry weight) fats were
extractable at the optimized conditions. It was estimated
that yearly 638.6 MT fat could be extracted only from the
cowhide fleshings. Extraction of fats from the fleshings
could be a potential source for by-product production.
Simple technologies could allow extracting fat as input for
other processing industries in the form of raw material,
which will consent to produce useful end products.
Properties of the Soap
The results obtained from various tests performed with the
soap are represented in Table 4. The soap was milky white
in color. It was soluble in distilled water. The pH of the
prepared soap was 8–9, which was within the preselected
limit. Healthy skin has a pH 5.4–5.9 [24]. The cleaning
ability of soap to neutralize fatty oils for better removal
depends on the alkalinity of the soap. Higher the pH can
damage the antibacterial barrier and lipid lamellae of the
epidermis which results the skin of dryness as well as
entering irritants and allergens [25]. The pH was higher
because of incomplete alkali hydrolysis resulting from the
process of saponification. The pH could be achieved more
satisfactory level by adding fat or oil, glycerin, etc. The
soap was good lathering and cleansing power. The results
reveal that the extracted fat from the cowhide fleshings
were suitable for soap production. Better quality soap could

123
1224
be made by varying the amount of fat, alkali and incor-
porating different additives. The process could be com-
mercially optimized for large-scale production.
Conclusions
In this study, an attempt was carried out to utilize the fat
extracted from cowhide fleshings in soap production. The
characteristics of collecting fleshings disclose that obvi-
ously fleshing is a source of the fatty substance. It was
estimated yearly 638.6 MT fat could be extracted only
from cowhide fleshings in Bangladesh. The huge amount of
extracted fat from the fleshings could be a great source for
the production of soap. The properties exhibited by the
soap solution indicated that the extracted fat was suit-
able for soap production. The process could be optimized
for the large-scale commercial production. The attempt
could enable the production of valuable products for the
commercial use of the inevitable solid waste of tannery and
consecutively could reduce the environmental pollution.
References
1. Hashem, M.A., Nur-A-Tomal, M.S.: Fabrication of composite
from leather buffing dust for using in footwear and leather
products industry. In: Proceedings of the 3rd International Lea-
ther Engineering Congress: Innovative Aspects for Leather
Industry (IAFLI 2015), Izmir, Turkey, 21–22 May (2015)
2. http://www.daily-sun.com/printversion/details/167472/Footwear-
exports-record-impressive-growth
3. Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF), The Environment
Conservation Rules. Government of the People’s Republic of
Bangladesh, Dhaka (1997)
4. Wieczorek-Ciurowa, K., Famielec, S., Fela, K.: The process of
waste incineration in the tanning industry. CHEMIK 65, 917–922
(2011)
5. Boopathy, R., Karthikeyan, S., Mandal, A., Sekaran, G.: Char-
acterisation and recovery of sodium chloride from salt-laden solid
waste generated from leather industry. Clean Technol. Environ.
Policy 15, 117–124 (2013)
6. Accountants and Business Advisers, Technical report: leather
sector includes a value chain analysis and proposed action plans.
Bangladesh INSPIRED, Dhaka (2013)
7. Jian, S., Wenyi, T., Wuyong, C.: Kinetics of enzymatic unhairing
by protease in leather industry. J. Clean. Prod. 19, 325–331
(2011)
8. Kanagaraj, J., Velappan, K.C., Chandra Babu, N.K., Sadulla, S.:
Solid wastes generation in the leather industry and its utilization
for cleaner environment—a review. J. Sci. Ind. Res. 65, 541–548
(2006)
123
View publication stats
Waste Biomass Valor (2017) 8:1219–1224
9. Hashem, M.A., Nur-A-Tomal, M.S., Mondal, B.K.: Generation of
fleshings at beamhouse in tannery and its environmental impact
assessment: Bangladesh perspective. Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res.
50, 227–232 (2015)
10. Shanmugam, P., Horan, N.J.: Optimising the biogas production
from leather fleshing waste by co-digestion with MSW. Biores.
Technol. 100, 4117–4120 (2009)
11. Lupo, R.: Fleshing treatment and compacting. In: Proceedings of
the IULTCS II. Euro Congress, Istanbul, Turkey, May 24–27
(2006)
12. Rai, A.K., General, T., Bhaskar, N., Suresh, P.V., Sakhare, P.Z.,
Halami, P.M., Gowda, L.R., Mahendrakar, N.S.: Utilization of
tannery fleshings: optimization of conditions for fermenting
delimed tannery fleshings using Enterococcus faecium HAB01 by
response surface methodology. Bioresour. Technol. 101,
1885–1891 (2010)
13. Rvindran, B., Sekaran, G.: Bacterial composting of animal
fleshing generated from tannery industries. Waste Manag 30,
2622–2630 (2010)
14. Ravindranath, E., Kalyanaraman, C., Begum, S.S., Gopalakrish-
nan, A.N.: Effect of recirculation rate on anaerobic treatment of
fleshing using UASB reactor with recovery of energy. J. Sci. Ind.
Res. 69, 790–793 (2010)
15. Çolak, S., Zengin, G., Özgünay, H., Sari, Ö.: Utilisation of leather
industry prefleshings in biodiesel production. J. Am. Leather
Chem. Assoc. 100, 137–141 (2005)
16. Crispim, A., Sampaio, A., Ramalho, E., Ramos, L., Caetano,
N.S., Silva, P.C., Fernandes, R.: Biodiesel from fleshings. J. Soc.
Leather Technol. Chem. 94(1), 39–41 (2010)
17. Šanek, L., Pecha, J., Kolomaznik, K., Barinova, M.: Biodiesel
production from tannery fleshings: feedstock pretreatment and
process modeling. Fuel 148, 16–24 (2015)
18. Perwitasari, D.S.: Utilization of solid waste leather industry as
raw material making soap. J. Tek. Kimia. 5(2), 425–428 (2011)
19. Carpenter, C.: Determination of fat content. In: Nielsen, S.S. (ed.)
Food Analysis Laboratory Manual, pp. 29–37. Springer, New
York (2010)
20. Donkor, P.: Small-Scale Soapmaking: A Handbook. Intermediate
Technology Publications Ltd., London (1986)
21. Sibanda, N.R., Nyathi, J.A., Ndlovu, L.N.: Chemical properties of
jatropha soap and its effects on reactive dyed cotton fabrics as
compared to commercial soaps. Zimb. J. Sci. Technol. 8, 1–9
(2013)
22. Getahun, E., Gabiyye, N.: Experimental investigation and char-
acterization of biodiesel production from leather industry fleshing
wastes. Int. J. Renew. Sustain. Energy 2(3), 120–129 (2013)
23. Bragança, I., Crispim, A., Sampaio, A., Ramalho, E., Crispim, F.,
Caetano, N.S., Silva, P.C.: Adding value to tannery fleshings: part
I–oils and protein hydrolysates. Prod. Appl. 97, 62–67 (2013)
24. Cork, M.J., Danby, S., Vasilopoulos, Y., Moustafa, M., Mac-
Gowan, A., Varghese, J., Duff, G.W., Tazi-Ahnini, R., Ward,
S.J.: Epidermal barrier dysfunction in atopic dermatitis. In: Rei-
tamo, S., Luger, T.A., Steinhoff, M. (eds.) Textbook of Atopic
Dermatitis, pp. 35–57. Informa Healthcare, London (2008)
25. Mendes, B.R., Shimabukuro, D.M., Uber, M., Abagge, K.T.:
Critical assessment of the pH of children’s soap. J. Pediatr. 92(3),
290–295 (2016)