Chivas Brothers makes its carbon saving technology ‘open source’

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Chivas Brothers,  the Scotch whisky business of Pernod Ricard and whisky brands including Chivas Regal and The Glenlivet, has announced today that it has chosen to share its techniques for using heat recovery technologies, making it ‘open source’, after their own methods proved successful in reducing carbon emissions at their Glentauchers site.

By putting collaboration ahead of competition, and sharing its design process and implementation insights, Chivas hope to help the industry on its road to net zero creating a sustainable future for Scotch, Scotland’s largest export.

Chivas are using heat recovery technologies, which include Mechanical Vapour Recompression (MVR) and Thermo Vapour Recompression (TVR), which help to reuse the heat produced during the whisky-making process, heat that is normally wasted. The company started using these technologies at their Glentauchers distillery, and found that they reduced overall energy use by nearly half resulting in a 53% fall in the site’s carbon emissions. The energy saved from using these techniques could power almost 5,000 average UK homes for a full year, which is more homes than are in the nearby town of Keith.

Chivas Brothers says that it plans to start using these heat recovery technologies at all of their other suitable distillery locations, with a goal of having carbon neutral whisky-making processes by the end of 2026. They anticipate that these technologies will lower their overall energy use and carbon emissions by one third, which is more than 30,000 tons of CO2 per year.

Although not all distilleries will be able to use these technologies, Chivas Brothers believes that if all the malt whisky makers were to adopt these techniques, the energy savings could be enough to power 605,000 average homes for a year. This is more homes than in Edinburgh and Aberdeen combined.

Commenting on the ‘open source’ move, Jean-Etienne Gourgues, Chairman and CEO of Chivas Brothers, said, “Heat recovery forms a critical part of our commitment to achieve carbon neutral distillation by 2026. Findings with such significant impact must be shared; this technology has the potential to transform our industry and accelerate its progress to net zero.

“That’s why today we’re making our design process and implementation learnings available to all”, he continued. “As a business with a long history of innovation, we believe this is the right thing to do. Collaboration across our industry will be fundamental if we are to meet collective ambitions around sustainability, safeguarding the long-term future of our product and our planet. Understandably, this technology won’t be right for every distillery, but we encourage our peers to explore whether it has the potential to reduce their own carbon output.”

A case study has been published by Chivas Brothers, outlining the benefits and savings achieved, plus additional detail on the basis of design used. The business will also host a series of dedicated open house events at its Glentauchers site, creating an opportunity for other distillers to see the technology, how it has been integrated and facilitate industry learning, while aiming to demystify some of the recurring hurdles around the implementation of these technologies.
 
The company’s recent successes in heat recovery are a continuation of its 2021 pilot programme, which achieved energy reductions of 88% on a single pot still and showcased the potential if adopted across distillery operations. The pilot programme at Glentauchers was part-funded by the Scottish Government through the Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund, which aims to support decarbonisation and energy efficiency in Scotland’s industries. 
 
Scottish Government Energy Minister, Gillian Martin, said, “Chivas Brothers has led the way with an innovative approach which has halved energy consumption at their Glentauchers distillery. Sharing this breakthrough with the wider whisky industry has the potential to advance efforts to reach net zero across the sector. 
 
“Recycling heat from malt that would be the equivalent of powering all the homes in Edinburgh and Aberdeen could be a game changer for the industry, and a boost to Scotland’s economic growth while helping reach our climate change goals.”  
 
The successes of this programme are shared with the company’s supplier, Piller Blowers & Compressors GmbH, manufacturers of high-performance blowers and compressors for the process industry, whose team worked alongside Chivas Brothers to adapt its technology for distillery applications. As a result, the technology achieved a Co-efficient of Performance of 12, meaning for every 1 kwh of electricity input, 12 units of heat were generated. This level of performance is essential if the technology is to make a meaningful contribution to carbon reduction, while also delivering cost-effective improvement in energy efficiency.