We’re moving towards a greener future, thanks to a new joint project with the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) investigating hydrogen heating as a clean fuel solution in the distilling process.
Orcadians have been at the forefront of energy innovation now for generations, and we are extremely pleased to be a part of this collaboration, which will serve to strengthen connections between EMEC’s ground-breaking green hydrogen development and the local distillery sector.
The project known as HySpirits 2 has received £58,781 of funding from the UK Government’s Department of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to produce a feasibility study, looking at technologies that would enable us to use hydrogen as a fuel source in the distillery.
The partnership includes Edinburgh Napier University, with their industrial decarbonisation team leading the pilot study design and hydrogen technology assessments. Technologies being looked at include thermal fluid technology, steam technology, direct burn technology and dual fuel technology. Following assessment, the optimal technology pathway will be chosen and used to design a demonstration project to be considered for Phase 2 funding to use the solution in a real-world context.
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Kwasi Kwarteng, said:
“Building back greener from the pandemic is something we can all raise a toast to. Every business can play a part in the green industrial revolution and this funding will allow UK distilleries to lead the way by making their production cleaner while also creating jobs.”
James Walker, Hydrogen Manager at EMEC, said:
“Hydrogen offers a potentially very compelling alternative fuel for producing high grade heat in industry. With many distilleries located in remote areas off the natural gas network and using fuel oils to generate process heat for malting and distilling, there is great scope for applying the findings from our project to a cross section of the wider industry.”
Professor John Currie, Director of the Scottish Energy Centre at Edinburgh Napier University, said:
“Industrial fuel switching, in order to lower carbon emissions, provides a significant challenge, particularly in the food and drink sector. This project brings together a partnership which will focus on assessing a range of viable technology options that give the greatest emissions reductions for distillers. Ensuring commercial viability through to a fully sustainable end product will lay the path towards the future of green distilling.”