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Glenmorangie
uses 'virtual gas pipeline' to reduce
carbon emissions at the distillery by
30%.
Glenmorangie is to cut carbon
emissions at its Highland Distillery by
30%, as it moves another step closer to
its vision of becoming a fully
sustainable business. The single malt
whisky has consistently innovated in
recent years to minimise its impact on
the environment. Now it becomes one of
the first in Scotland to use a ‘virtual
gas pipeline’ to supply its Distillery.
This allows Glenmorangie to power its
stills with the greener energy of
natural gas.
Glenmorangie’s gas, which originates
from the North Sea, will be taken from
the national gas transmission network at
a so-called 'mother station' in Fordoun,
Aberdeenshire. There, the gas is
transferred into specially designed
tankers under high pressure (so-called
compressed natural gas – or CNG), and
taken to a 'daughter station' which has
been constructed a few hundred metres
across the A9 road from the Glenmorangie
Distillery. The daughter station, built
on a disused farm site owned by
Glenmorangie, includes two loading bays
and gas storage.
Landscaping and tree-planting is planned
around the small site to tie in with
existing woodland. From the daughter
station, which can hold enough CNG to
supply the Distillery for around 2.5
days, the gas flows under the A9 via a
pipeline. It emerges into the boiler
house to feed the boiler, which has been
converted from heavy fuel oil to gas.
The project has been undertaken in
partnership with CNG specialists Air
Liquide and CNG Services. Air Liquide
will run the daughter station at
Glenmorangie.
Glenmorangie, which has been creating
its whisky in the Highlands since 1843,
is certainly committed to protecting and
improving its surroundings which they
showed back in 2017 when they
commissioned a state-of-the-art
anaerobic digestion plant to purify 95%
of the water it releases into the nearby
Dornoch Firth. One of the plant’s
by-products is biogas, which has helped
reduce Glenmorangie’s fossil fuel use by
15%. In tandem, Glenmorangie has led a
ground-breaking project to restore
extinct oyster reefs in the Firth. Reefs
will improve biodiversity and filter the
remaining organic matter from water
released by the Distillery.
Thomas Moradpour, President and CEO of
The Glenmorangie Company, said: "We are
committed to preserving and improving
the world around us, as we meet rising
demand for our exceptional single malt
whisky around the globe. Cutting our CO2
emissions by 30% is another important
step in our quest to become a fully
sustainable business."
Ambitious to go further still,
Glenmorangie began exploring greener
ways to provide power for its signature
copper stills, the tallest in Scotland.
The Distillery’s boiler has
traditionally run on heavy fuel oil. And
although natural gas is a much cleaner
fuel source, Glenmorangie’s remote
Highland location has always prevented
it from accessing from the national
network.
To overcome this challenge, the
Distillery have come up with the
‘virtual pipeline’ to bring gas to
Glenmorangie, cutting its greenhouse gas
emissions by almost a third. From this
month, North Sea gas will be taken from
the national gas transmission system, as
it runs through Aberdeenshire. The gas
will then be transported by tanker to a
newly constructed storage facility near
the Distillery, before flowing into the
boiler house to provide the power needed
for distillation. The switch from heavy
fuel oil to gas significantly reduces
emissions at the Distillery.
You will find the current Glenmorangie
whisky range available from specialist
online whisky retailers such as
The Whisky Exchange,
The Whisky Shop and
Master of Malt
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