Chivas shares carbon-saving tech with whisky industry

Chivas Brothers, the Scotch whisky arm of Pernod Ricard, has made its carbon-reducing technology available to the wider industry – a move it believes could halve carbon emissions.

The Glenlivet maker has made the expertise and learnings from its enhanced heat recovery technologies available to all producers.

The decision comes after the heat recovery technology was integrated at the Glentauchers distillery, cutting the site’s carbon emissions by half.

Jean-Etienn Gourgues, chairman and CEO of Chivas Brothers, said: “Heat recovery forms a critical part of our commitment to achieve carbon-neutral distillation by 2026.

“Findings with such significant impact must be shared; this technology has the potential to transform our industry and accelerate its progress to net zero.

“That’s why today we’re making our design process and implementation learnings available to all.

“As a business with a long history of innovation, we believe this is the right thing to do. Collaboration across our industry will be fundamental if we are to meet collective ambitions around sustainability, safeguarding the long-term future of our product and our planet.

“Understandably, this technology won’t be right for every distillery, but we encourage our peers to explore whether it has the potential to reduce their own carbon output.”

Available to all

The heat recovery technologies include mechanical vapour recompression (MVR) and thermos vapour recompression (TVR), both designed to capture and recycle heat given out during the distillation process that would otherwise go to waste.

When the technology was implemented at the company’s Glentauchers distillery in Speyside, Scotland, total energy consumption fell by 48%, while the site’s overall carbon emissions plummeted by 53%.

For context, the energy saved is enough to power 4,979 average UK homes for a year.

Chivas Brothers is aiming to integrate this technology across all viable sites as part of its goal to achieve carbon-neutral distillation by the end of 2026.

With the use of this technology, the company’s overall energy consumption and carbon emissions in distillation are forecast to come down by a third – saving more than 30,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, equal to 67,226 UK homes.

Chivas Brothers said while the technology would not suit every distillery, if the industry’s malt distilleries alone adopted these practices, it could save 1,756GWh (Gigawatt hours) per year, enough to power 605,000 average homes for a year.

Distillers invited to visit Glentauchers

Chivas Brothers has published a case study that discloses the benefits and savings achieved, alongside details of the design used. Furthermore, a series of open-house events will take place at Glentauchers to allow distillers to see the technology and how it has been integrated with a view to ‘demystify some of the recurring hurdles’ around this type of technology.

Gillian Martin, Scottish government energy minister, said: “Chivas Brothers has led the way with an innovative approach, which has halved energy consumption at their Glentauchers distillery. Sharing this breakthrough with the wider industry has the potential to advance efforts to reach net zero across the sector.

“Recycling heat from malt that would be the equivalent of powering all the homes in Edinburgh and Aberdeen could be a game changer for the industry, and a boost to Scotland’s economic growth while helping reach our climate change goals.”

In April last year, Chivas Brothers revealed plans to spend £88 million (US$110.5m) on enhancing production at its single malt distilleries.