Scottish company to turn distillery leftovers into biofuel

Date: 26/9/2012

The latest attempt to find new sources of biofuel will see a company in Scotland take the waste product from a distillery and turn it into butanol to run cars.

Tullibardine distillery in Perthshire will be supplying a spinoff company from Edinburgh's Napier University with the draff and other by products of distilling to create fuel.

Since 90 per cent of what comes out of a distillery is not whisky, it makes good sense to put the waste to good use as an alternative way of fuelling cars.

A memorandum of understanding has been signed between Celtic Renweables and Tullibardine to put the plan into action.

Professor Martin Tangney, Founder of Celtic Renewables, said: "Our partnership with Tullibardine is an important step in the development of a business which combines two iconic Scottish industries - whisky and renewables."

Other uses for the waste product have included fertiliser and feed for cattle in the past, as it has a high sugar content and each year it costs the distillery £250,000 to dispose of the by products of the distilling process.

Douglas Ross, Managing Director of Tullibardine, pointed out the common sense approach of taking something which is a cost to the distillery and giving it both social and commercial value.

Professor Tangney said: "This project demonstrates that innovative use of existing technologies can utilise resources on our doorstep to benefit both the environment and the economy."

Scientists will take this product and use a certain type of bacteria on it to produce butanol, which can be used as a fuel.

A Zero Waste Scotland grant has been awarded to the project in order to help it get off the ground with this pioneering process.

If all goes to plan Celtic Renewables would like to go on to build a large scale processing plant, which could serve an industry worth £60 million a year.

An increasing worry with biofuels is that although they cut down on emissions, they often come from food sources, which take away from feeding the world's population, so biofuel from whisky by products could be one viable alternative.

Posted by Nick Anderson

International Transport News and Sustainable Transport News