SA’s century-old black wattle tannin industy

The men tending the three big coal- and wood-fuelled fire chambers at NTE Company’s factory are clad from head to foot in heavy, cumbersome protective gear. There is good reason for this: they are working 2m away from 800°C fires that heat large boilers producing scalding water and steam. These elemental forces power no fewer than 17 separate processes used in the extraction and processing of tannin, a compound obtained from the bark of the black wattle tree (Acacia mearnsii). Tannin is invaluable for preserving and colouring leather and as an ingedient in adhesives.

NTE’s plant, based in Hermannsburg, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), is one of two owned by the company, the other being in Iswepe, Mpumalanga. William Aherin, NTE’s industrial manager, explains that both