Glenfiddich turns its distilling waste into fuel for whisky lorries
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A SPEYSIDE distillery has today launched a pioneering drive to run its delivery fleet on green biogas made from the residues of its own distilling process.
In a global first for the spirits industry and using unique technology developed by its parent company William Grant & Sons, Dufftown's Glenfiddich Distillery is converting its production wastes and residues into an Ultra-Low Carbon Fuel (ULCF) gas, which produces minimal carbon dioxide and other harmful emissions.
Fuelling stations have now been installed at the distillery.
The biogas is now powering specially converted trucks which transport Glenfiddich whisky at all stages of production through to bottling and packaging.
Local road users will soon see trucks bearing the proud statement: "Fuelled by Glenfiddich – turning whisky waste into Ultra Low Carbon Fuel".
William Grant & Sons plans to make the technology available across the Scottish whisky industry to support the decarbonisation of transport in line with UK and Scottish governments’ net zero targets.
Stuart Watts, William Grant & Sons’ distilleries director, said: "It has taken more than a decade for Glenfiddich to become the first distillery to process 100 per cent of its waste residues on its own site, then to be the first to process those residues into biogas fuel to power its trucks, and finally to be the first to install a biogas truck fuelling station supplied by our on-site renewable energy facility.
"Across the entire production life cycle, the biogas reduces carbon dioxide (CO2e) by over 95 per cent and other harmful particulates and greenhouse gas emissions by up to 99 per cent when compared to diesel and other fossil fuels.
"Each truck will displace up to 250 tonnes of CO2e annually, which has the same environmental benefit as planting up to 4000 trees every year – the equivalent of displacing natural gas, a fossil fuel, from 112 households."
Mr Watts added: "We are proud of these renewable energy breakthroughs in our industry as we scale up the decarbonising benefits of this closed-loop process across our entire transport fleet."
The "Fuelled by Glenfiddich" initiative is the latest drive by the company to reduce the environmental impact of its production process.
The action is in line with the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA)’s roadmap to achieve targets set out under the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, which will be a main focus of the UN COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow this November.
The SWA’s four main areas for action are: tackling climate change by having net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040; moving to a circular economy by making all packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025; hitting responsible water use targets by 2025; and caring for the land through the active conservation and restoration of Scotland’s peatland by 2035.
