Potential of energy from tannery waste in Bangladesh

The tanneries in Bangladesh are one of the major contributors to pollution. A substantial number of tanneries are located in Hazaribagh alone, a congested area of the Dhaka city. These tanneries regularly dump the untreated waste to the Buriganga River. Many chemicals like sodium sulfide, sodium metabisulfite, sulfuric acid, basic chromium sulfate, acid dyes, that can be fatal to the environment, are mixed into the water and soil. This poses serious threat to the environment as well as to the health of the local citizens. The paper delves into the prospects of converting the Hazaribagh tanneries´ solid biomass wastes to energy in an eco-friendly way. An overview of the tannery industry, the total amount of waste produced, and its composition, estimated energy generation, and the technologies available will be presented in this paper.