All industries are facing the need to think sustainably. The UK aims to become carbon neutral within the next three decades, and to do so, industries and businesses in the UK need to take action. Distilling is an industry worth over £6 Billion to the UK economy, and often makes the top 10 biggest exports for the UK. However, distilling is an energy intensive process, and involves large volumes of steam in a two stage batch distillation process. The raw ingredients: water, yeast and barley are used to create the product, but a number of co-products are also created during the process such as spent grain and liquid residue. Over the years, many technologies have aimed to reduce the energy boilers and stills require for the production of spirits.
Sustainability In Distilling
Sustainability covers a broader range of topics than first thought. It is defined as the meeting of needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. To properly implement a sustainable economy, both society and the environment must be considered.
A variety of technologies are being deployed and developed to further reduce the environmental impact of distilling. These have often focused on making better use of the co-products, which contain lots of stored energy from the process, and can be further processed to recover that energy. A number of methods can be used to achieve this, such as electrification, hydrogen, biomass or waste. This could also involve anaerobic digestion, the combustion of dried by products, in order to generate fuels to be used in distilleries or to sell back to the grid.
These solutions are cheaper than one would first think, with payback of initial investment in as little as 5 years. What’s more is that the government is helping distilleries through the Green Distilleries competition, which aims to develop and reduce the cost of technologies that enable low carbon fuel in distilling.
Sustainable Distilleries In The UK
The UK is home to the world’s first geothermal rum distillery and cask maturation research centre. The facility is entirely carbon-neutral, using sustainable waste heat from the UK’s first and only operational deep geothermal well power plant. The story is an interesting read, and it is impressive to see the UK at the forefront of the effort to make distilling sustainable. But this pioneering innovation is not an option for all.
Upscaling equipment is another method which can reduce the carbon footprint of a distilling operation. This works around the principle of economy of scale; by distilling in greater batch quantities, energy, time and unit costs are all reduced. This is not an option for all distillers, but it is important to keep in mind the impact on sustainability your equipment has and how that impact could be reduced.
If you are considering upgrading and haven’t already, you can check out V-Brew distilling equipment here. We are happy to give advice on upgrading your equipment and any concerns you have regarding sustainability of our products.
Packaging is often at the forefront of sustainability in the media. You might well be thinking that your distillery’s glass bottles are immune, and indeed they are recyclable. However, this process is energy intensive, particularly with the heavy glass bottles used by many distilleries. You could reduce the environmental impact of this by reducing the thickness of the glass, or by using alternative materials. Aluminium is one promising alternative. It is infinitely recyclable, and the energy required to do so is considerably less.
Sustainable Distilling With V-brew
Overall there are many ways a distillery can increase their sustainability credentials. Not only that, many methods are highly cost effective, or require only a little thought put in such as the case of packaging. Though, many other methods have a long pay back time. If you wish to discuss distilling and sustainability, or how our equipment can help, you can get in touch with us on 01395 233031 or by email at info@v-brew.co.uk.
