Distillery’s leftovers set to be biofuel

Published on 25/09/2012 12:00

A DEAL has been signed with an off-shoot company from Heriot Watt University to turn by-products from a Scottish distillery into fuel for cars.

In what is claimed to be a world first, the Tullibardine distillery in Perthshire has linked up with Celtic Renewables to produce butanol which can be used to fuel vehicles.

They plan to use bacteria to feed on the “leftovers” from the whisky-making process.

More than 90 per cent of 
the materials that comes out of a whisky distillery is not whisky.

It is leftovers like draff and pot ales – both produced in the early stages of the whisky-
making process.

They are high in sugar and are currently used for things like fertiliser and cattle feed.

Together they will apply the fuel-making process to thousands of tonnes of the distillery’s leftovers.