Leading alcohol business Diageo plans to build a bioenergy facility at Scotland’s largest distillery, Cameronbridge in Fife, Scotland.
After two years of extensive research, the company, which produces brands including Johnnie Walker, Tanqueray and Smirnoff, has finalised plans and signed a formal partnership agreement with energy management company Dalkia to create a facility that will cost approximately £65 million ($147 million).
The facility will for the first time integrate sustainable technologies, including anaerobic digestion and biomass conversion, on a commercial scale. It is expected to reduce annual CO2 emissions by approximately 56,000 tonnes and will be the largest single investment in renewable technology by a non-utility company in the United Kingdom.
The proposed facility, which is subject to planning approval, will recover 98 per cent of thermal steam and 80 per cent of electrical power at the distillery. It will be constructed by Dalkia over the next two years.
Article continues below…The bioenergy facility will generate renewable energy from ‘spent wash’ – a mixture of wheat, malted barley, yeast and water – produced during distillation. The spent wash will be separated into liquid and dried solids. The liquid is then converted into biogas through anaerobic digestion and the dried solids form a biomass fuel source.
Around 90,000 tonnes of co-products, which would have required transport off-site by road, will be turned into bioenergy in the form of electricity and steam for use at the distillery. The facility will also recover almost a third of the site’s water requirements.
Diageo Scotland Managing Director Bryan Donaghey said “This will be a showcase bioenergy facility which harnesses a variety of green technologies in a project of an unprecedented scale. “It is without question the right way forward in terms of environmental benefits and secures the long-term sustainability of our operation, moving the site away from reliance on fossil fuels.”
