Roseisle Waste Heat To Be Used At Burghead Maltings

[John]

Work is under way on a three-mile pipeline to carry excess heat from Roseisle Scotland's newest distillery to a malt producer as part of a move to improve their environmental credentials.

Drinks firm Diageo is linking the £40million Roseisle Distillery to its Burghead Maltings, which provides malted barley to whisky firms.

A spokesman for the distillery said this was an innovative move for the whisky industry.
Work began on the Roseisle development in October 2007.

The malt distillery, which features 14 copper stills, is the first of its kind to be built in Scotland in three decades.

The site also has its own maltings and bio-energy plant, and most of its energy is provided by renewables. The distillery is already up and running but the energy plant is still being tested.

The Diageo spokesman said the official opening would not take place until all parts had been completed, adding that the firm expected to announce a date before the end of the year.

He said the pipeline project had numerous benefits.

"What would normally be termed as waste heat, we're capturing it and will pipe the steam down to Burghead, where they can use it in the malting process,"? he said.

"Basically we're making them as self-sufficient and efficient as they can be."?

The spokesman said the transfer of steam was not a new concept but was unusual in the whisky world, as was the idea of an on-site bio-energy plant.

He said: "The bio-energy plant is very innovative. It's fairly different technology in terms of waste reclamation and in terms of bringing co-products into the distilling process."?

The group manager at Burghead, Steve McGingle, said it would make a huge difference.

"It will make it a lot greener, reducing significantly the amount of heavy fuel oil we're using on-site and the amount of carbon we're discharging into the atmosphere,"? he said.

A spokesman for the Scotch Whisky Association said it was important to find ways of dealing with the excess heat.

"It's something the industry is investing a lot of time and money in at the moment,"? he said. "It makes good business sense and good environmental sense to re-use and recycle."?

He said some other distilleries in Scotland used their excess heat for swimming pools and schools and the industry was doing its best to become more sustainable.

"It's a key priority for the whisky industry as we look to secure a sustainable future,"? he said. "Across the industry, £100million of environment-related improvements have been approved over the past two years."?

John

Source: Press & Journal