Distillery plans to cut costs with bacteria-eating 'digesters'

Published on Sunday 17 January 2010 20:26

SLUDGE from a distillery on Islay is set to be turned into green energy to power whisky production on the island.

Bruichladdich will next month install two anaerobic digesters – in which bacteria eat yeasty waste to produce methane – at a cost of about 300,000.

The methane gas will then be burned to provide electricity for the distillery.

Managers forecast the system to have paid for itself within five years and expect savings on their waste disposal costs which currently run at 20,000 a year.

Seven other distilleries on the island are believed to be considering similar schemes.

Up to 80 per cent of Bruichladdich's energy needs could be met by the anaerobic digesters. At present, tonnes of waste from the distillery are pumped into the Sound of Islay each week via a pipeline.

The digesters will be built by Biowayste, company based in Northamptonshire, which has already installed five such systems, including one at Orchard House Foods in Northampton and one at Muntons, a brewery in Suffolk.

Spare gas from the digesters could potentially be used to run methane-powered cars on Islay.