British multinational alcoholic beverage company Diageo yesterday (17 August) began operating an anaerobic digestion (AD) facility at its Glendullan distillery in Speyside, Scotland.
The move follows completion of a high-rate AD facility at the Dailuaine malt distillery (also in Speyside) in 2013. Diageo then commissioned AD company Clearfleau to build the second facility at its Glendullan plant. It uses co-products from the distillation process as well as receiving feedstock from other distilleries in the Dufftown area, fed to the plant in a recently completed pipeline to reduce local truck movements.
It is projected that the Glendullan bio-energy facility could generate two million cubic metres of biogas per year. This would equate to producing about 8,000 megawatt (MW) hours of thermal energy for the distillery, based on processing up to 1,000 cubic metres of distillery co-products on a daily basis.
Keith Miller, Diageo’s Distillation and Maturation Director, said: “We’re very proud of our record in investing in cutting-edge sustainable technology at our distilleries.
“The bioenergy plant at Glendullan is the most recent example of how we use innovative technology which harnesses the potential of the natural raw materials we use in the distillation process to generate renewable energy.”
“Good for the planet, good for the whisky industry and good for the Scottish economy.”
Visiting the plant last week (13 August), Scottish Office Minister Lord Dunlop added: “The commitment to powering distilleries like Glendullan with sustainable energy, recycled from the co-products of the whisky-making process, is also exactly the right thing to do.
“Good for the planet, good for the whisky industry and good for the Scottish economy.”
Commenting on the second contract from Diageo, Craig Chapman of Clearfleau, said: “This project, a result of close collaboration between Diageo and Clearfleau, shows how British technology can enable a traditional but energy-intensive Scottish business sector to embrace the circular economy, reduce its costs and create a more sustainable basis for production.
“However, wider adoption of this technology requires on-going support for renewable energy. The Scottish and British government[s] should be working together to support the development of indigenous renewables technologies and their adoption in a range of industry sectors, helping to deliver our long-term sustainability targets.”
Read Resource’s in-depth feature on Diageo’s environmental impacts.
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