Diageo burns waste by-products for energy

Diageo is reducing its impact on the environment by burning waste by-products as a source of energy for its distilleries located in remote areas of the Highlands.

Diageo is burning wast byproducts for energy to reduce the impact it has on the environment

Unwanted grain by-products, wood chips and other types of biomass are being burnt as a solution to limited gas links and expensive fuel oil costs.

Gerry O’Hagan, operational excellence director of spirits and wine for Diageo, told Reuters: “As we expand capacity, biomass will be an integral part of what we are doing going forward.”

Four years ago, Diageo opened a £45 million distillery at Roseisle, Speyside in Scotland, with no access to a gas line, which produces 10.5 million litres of whisky a year for brands such as Johnnie Walker.

Since then, the drinks giant has spent £17million on a bioenergy plant with a capacity of eight to 10 megawatts (MW) – the equivalent of powering up to 10,000 homes.

More than half of the distillery’s energy comes from the biomass plant, saving approximately 10,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year.

The plant generates energy by burning by-products of the distilling process such as spent grains, which would have otherwise been sent to farmers to feed their animals.

The rest of the distillery’s energy comes from burning heavy fuel oil, which is more harmful to the environment and more costly.

Diageo is aiming to increase renewable energy to approximately 80% of the plant’s total by mixing its by-products with wood products.

“There is concern about energy (prices) in the long term and about how we can make ourselves as self-sufficient as we possibly can,” O’Hagan added.

A larger 30MW bioenergy plant at the Cameronbridge distillery near Edinburgh has also been installed and another is being built at its Glendullan distillery in Speyside, with additional plans for a third at a new malt whisky distillery, also in Speyside.