Elixir Protocol operates in the Palar tannery corridor of Tamil Nadu, producing renewable energy from industrial organic waste streams.
Tannery solid waste is the byproduct of hide processing at scale. In India, most of it is either landfilled or informally disposed of. It is a hazardous liability for tannery operators and a persistent environmental problem for the communities that live around the clusters where leather is made.
Elixir Protocol converts that waste into Compressed Bio-Gas, a renewable substitute for compressed natural gas. We build and operate anaerobic co-digestion facilities located within the tannery belts they serve, producing bio-methane at commercial scale for sale into India's transportation and city gas grids.
Anaerobic co-digestion facilities that process tannery solid waste and paired organic streams into bio-methane.
Compressed Bio-Gas to oil marketing companies and city gas distributors under India's SATAT programme.
The Vellore, Vaniyambadi, Ambur, and Ranipet corridor in Tamil Nadu, home to nearly half of India's leather exports.
India's tanning industry is concentrated in a narrow geographic belt along the Palar river basin in Tamil Nadu. This corridor accounts for approximately half of India's leather exports and generates on the order of 550 tonnes of solid organic waste per day, alongside 20 million litres per day of process effluent.
India's Compressed Bio-Gas market is being actively built. Under the Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation programme, national oil marketing companies including Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum, and city gas distributors are obligated to purchase Compressed Bio-Gas at published long-term prices. A mandatory blending target of five percent in the city gas distribution network is scheduled for financial year 2028 to 2029.
In parallel, environmental regulation is tightening. In 2025, the Supreme Court of India directed strict enforcement of Zero Liquid Discharge norms and continuous pollution monitoring in the Palar basin. Together, guaranteed offtake on the revenue side and compliance pressure on the disposal side create the conditions for organised waste-to-energy infrastructure to be built at commercial scale.
Sources: SWITCH-Asia India cluster report, CSIR-CLRI Technology Compendium, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas SATAT portal, Central Pollution Control Board 2025.
Our commercial facility is planned within the Vaniyambadi and Ambur tannery belt, positioned to serve the concentrated set of tanneries and their common effluent treatment plants in the immediate corridor. Locating within the cluster shortens the logistics chain, keeps the disposal system close to the source of waste, and enables the direct integration of feedstock intake with existing effluent treatment infrastructure.
Vellore, Tamil Nadu
The centre of the Palar tannery corridor and one of the oldest continuous leather producing regions in South Asia.
We speak with tanneries interested in long term waste supply arrangements, common effluent treatment plants exploring integrated bio-energy partnerships, and industry participants in the wider Compressed Bio-Gas ecosystem.
Vellore, Tamil Nadu
India