Indonesia is one of the countries having the largest rubber plantations in the world. Besides producing latex, rubber plantations produce also about 1500kg/hectare of rubber seeds, which has not been utilised optimally. Rubber seed oil may be able to be used for chamois leather tanning. Chamois leather is a popular leather article in the market, as it has unique uses, such as in high quality gasoline filtration and cleaning of optical equipment (spectacles, windows, vehicle, jewellery, silverware, etc.). In this research, the use of rubber seed oil for chamois tanning was investigated. The objectives of the research were to discover whether the rubber seed oil could be used as chamois leather tanning agent, and to identify chemical, physical as well as organoleptic properties of the rubber seed oil tanned leather. This study shows that the chemical, physical, and organoleptic properties of rubber seed oil tanned leather were similar to those of fish oil tanned leather. In terms of colour and odour, rubber seed oil tanned leather was better than fish oil tanned leather. The chemical properties of rubber seed tanned leather were a pH of 6.9-7.0 and ash content of 4.9%. Its physical properties were thickness of 0.4-1.0mm, tensile strength of 27.6N/mm(2), elongation at break of 104%, and water absorption of 380% (2 hours). The organoleptic properties of the leather, i.e. softness, colour, and odour, were good to excellent. All of those characteristics fulfill the quality requirements for chamois leather. Therefore, rubber seed oil might be suitable to use as a substitute for fish oil in oil tanning for chamois leather production.
