India’s CLRI develops tannery waste biodiesel technology
In India, the Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) at Chennai, a unit of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has successfully developed a biorefinery to produce biodiesel, bioethanol, biohydrogen and biomethane from tannery solid waste.
Tanneries across the country have been a major cause of environmental pollution and ground water contamination. Ground water in the entire Ranipet, Ambur and Vellore regions is contaminated due to the presence of toxic materials like chromium and cadmium in the solid waste thrown out by the tanneries.
The lead CLRI researcher, Palani Shanmugam, has devised a chemical process which extracts biodiesel, bioethanol, biohydrogen and biomethane from the solid waste. The result of 15 years of research and development.
Category: Research
