BIOGAS/CHP
Making Scotland’s malt whisky industry greener & more sustainable
This Christmas, Clearfleau will be toasting the success of an engineering project which has been helping to make Scotland’s malt whisky industry greener and more sustainable for over three years. In August 2015 Clearfleau completed a new on-site biogas plant for Diageo at its Glendullan distillery on Speyside, demonstrating how Scotland’s whisky sector can embrace the circular economy. For three years the plant has been operating successfully, cutting the site’s carbon footprint and reducing costs.
process which would otherwise be disposed of in a less sustainable way. The site also receives other distillation
T
products (pot ale and spent lees) from other Diageo distilleries in the Dufftown area. Some of this is fed to the plant in a dedicated pipeline, reducing local truck movements for further environmental benefit. Over its three years of operation, the
Glendullan bio-energy plant has achieved the following: - Delivering a 25% reduction in fossil fuel energy demand. - Generating over 1 million m3 of biogas per year. - Delivering over 6,000 MWh heat energy per year.
he onsite Anaerobic Digestion process at the Glendullan distillery on Speyside harnesses latent energy from the co-products of the distillation
- Processing 1,000m3 of co-products per day. - Saving over 1,000 tonnes of carbon per year. - Cutting about 15 truck journeys per day. Clearfleau’s onsite liquid AD technology
converts a range of co-products into biogas that is fed to a biogas boiler to supply renewable heat, used directly in the distillation process. The bio-plant therefore saves both carbon emissions and energy costs, as well as cutting costs of disposing of the co-products. The only other outputs are cleansed water
which is discharged safely into the River Fiddich, and nutrients (or biosolids) which are applied to farmland to grow the barley which is harvested to supply grain used in the distillery. The Glendullan plant is a practical example of improved resource use in a more circular
“By
generating bioenergy from its whisky
co-products, Diageo is
showing how one of
Scotland’s most
traditional
industries can cut carbon emissions while
reducing its costs. “
- Craig
Chapman, Clearfleau CEO
20
economy. It also is making effective use of the energy in these liquid residues, with heat generated and used where it is needed. This also fits with the Scottish
Government’s policy backing for both renew- able energy and decentralised generation. Engineering challenges involved
developing a plant that was able to handle higher strength materials such as pot ale, as well as variability in strength and volume of feedstocks being fed to it. They also included the sensitive location of
the plant in a valley adjacent to the river Fiddich and achieving the required water course discharge standards. Craig Chapman, Clearfleau’s CEO, said:
“By generating bioenergy from its whisky co-products, Diageo is showing how one of Scotland’s most traditional industries can cut carbon emissions while reducing its costs. With over three years of successful operation, we think that’s definitely a track record worth toasting!” Clearfleau Group Ltd is a leading British
green engineering company working at the heart of the circular economy. Based in Bracknell, Berkshire, Clearfleau
works with a diverse range of companies which want to use natural resources more efficiently in their production processes. Not only distilleries, but also breweries,
food processing factories and milk creameries are seeking to become greener and boost their resource efficiency.
clearfleau.com
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2018 UK POwER NEwS
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