Innovation: From tannery waste to energy

Leather industrialists in Kanpur have devised a novel way of getting rid of tannery waste. Mirza International, the city's leading leather manufacturer, has taken the initiative by starting a power plant that could generate 20 Mw by utilising the waste that is left after processing.

The technology has been developed by a research student, Ranjeet, who is currently studying at the Harcourt Butler Technological Institute. He is working on biogas technologies.

Mirza International Managing Director Irshad Mirza told Business Standard that the project was being run on a pilot basis and capacity augmentation can be expected to follow in subsequent time.

"We aim to generate up to 250 Mw of power in a planned manner. Our first plant will start functioning by next week, although the production has started already," he added.

According to Ranjeet Singh, the plant will effectively deal with waste disposal issues in a profitable and environment-friendly manner.

"Processing of hides in the tanneries leaves tonnes of waste which is often dumped into the Ganga, but we process it by mixing it with cattle dung. The mix is then left to purify for around 40 days before it actually generates power," explained Singh.