Tamil Nadu to have world’s first biorefinery

Tamil Nadu will be home to the world’s first biorefinery which will use solid waste generated from tanneries in Vellore district.

The Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) at Chennai, a unit of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has succeeded in developing a biorefinery which will produce biodiesel, bioethanol, biohydrogen and biomethane.

“With this bio refinery we will ensure that tanneries across the country do not discharge any kind of solid waste. There will not be any waste to be discharged because we will use it as raw materials,” Palani Shanmugam (42), the CLRI scientist who designed the refinery told DNA.

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.

Shanmugam, a PhD in civil and environmental engineering from Leeds University in Britain, has devised a chemical process which extracts biodiesel, bioethanol, biohydrogen and biomethane from the solid waste. It took him 15 years of grueling research to design the refinery.

“One tonne of solid waste from the tannery will yield 200 litres of bio diesel, 200 litres of bio ethanol, 120 cubic meter of bio hydrogen and 200 cubic meter methane. The cost of producing a liter of diesel through this process will be Rs 20,” said Shanmugan. The entire solid waste will be consumed by the refinery. The water received at the end of the process could be used for gardening, he said.

Dr DK Mondal director, CLRI, drove his car which was fuelled by the biodiesel produced at Shanmugam’s laboratory scale plant. The pilot plant which consumes two tonnes per day solid waste is being set up in Ranipet, 200km away from Chennai, with financial assistance offered by the union government. “The pilot plant will cost us Rs70 lakh. We can tell with authority that the environmental hazards due to solid waste from tanneries will be a thing of the past,” said Shanmugam.

While biohydrogen could be used to generate power through fuel cells, the biodiesel, biomethane and bioethanol could be used to run automobiles and as cooking gas,” said Shanmugam. He said tanneries spread across the country generate 2,400 tonnes of solid waste per day. “This entire waste could be used to generate power, bio diesel and cooking gas without producing any green house gases or waste of any kind,” said Shanmugam.