(Bioenergy Insight) UK anaerobic digestion specialist Clearfleau has started construction on a new biogas facility at a distillery in Scotland. Part of a £3 million project commissioned by Inver House Distillers, the new facility will generate energy in the form of methane-rich biogas from whisky residues.
Inver House’s distillery at Balmenach in rural Speyside is almost 200 years old, and has already installed a wood-pellet biomass boiler to lower its carbon footprint. According to a statement issued by Clearfleau, once the biogas project is completed in spring 2018 Balmenach will be one of the lowest carbon footprint distilleries in Scotland.
Clearfleau has already installed two plants on distillery plants in Scotland, with others being designed. Significantly, the Balmenach project is the smallest anaerobic digester the company has built to date, showing the viability of the technology across a range of different scales.
“Clearfleau is helping give Balmenach whisky a greener tinge – and giving an even warmer glow to people who enjoy drinking it,” said Craig Chapman, CEO of Clearfleau. “Once complete, the on-site biogas plant will provide a more sustainable solution for the distillery’s co-products, supplying renewable energy that will help reduce its power and other costs.”
When in operation, the Balmenach anaerobic digestion facility will treat about 130m3 of whisky co-products, including pot ale and spent lees, per day. Over 2000m3 per day of biogas will be fed to a combined heat and power engine, supplying 200kW of power and 230kW of heat for use in the operation of the distillery site. READ MORE