Alpheus has managed and maintained wastewater treatment at the distillery since 2020.
Wastewater from the whisky distillation process, known as ‘pot ale’, is treated in Glenmorangie’s on-site anaerobic digestion (AD) plant. The biological process uses microorganisms cultivated in the reactor tank to break down organic material in the waste liquid, creating biogas and helping to treat the water. The gas is cleaned and fed to the site’s steam boilers to provide a highly valuable and sustainable energy source, while the water is processed through membrane filters to remove impurities prior to it being released. Careful management of this process maximises the energy created and provides consistent clean effluent to the Dornoch Firth, beside the Glenmorangie Distillery.
“Over the last three years our partnership has delivered improved site safety and efficiency,” said Marcus Green, UK Head of Operations at Alpheus. “Over the next five years we will use our expertise and relationships to seek new technologies, systems, and greener solutions to maintain the momentum we have delivered to date.”
Ed Thom, Glenmorangie Distillery manager said: “We are committed to being carbon neutral by 2040 and to halving our CO2 emissions by 2030. Helping us achieve that ambition at Glenmorangie is anaerobic digestion. The filtration system Alpheus has developed cleans over 98% of our wastewater, and generates biogas, which now contributes 20% of the energy needed to run the Distillery.
Glenmorangie, through the Dornoch Environmental Enhancement Project (DEEP) in partnership with the Marine Conservation Society and Heriot-Watt University, is restoring native European oysters into the Dornoch Firth which has the long-term ambition to create a self-sustaining oyster reef to filter out the remaining 2% of impurities and improve marine biodiversity.
