Ardnamurchan Distillery joins Scottish companies in biofuel push

Ardnamurchan Distillery has teamed up with Woodlands Renewables and Celtic Renewables to help accelerate the launch of biofuel technology.

Celtic Renewables, the new bio refinery, has already attracted £43m of investment and will be able to produce one million litres of sustainable biochemicals annually.

The plant will use Celtic Renewables’ patented technology to convert 50,000 tonnes of biological material into renewable chemicals, sustainable biofuel, and other commercially and environmentally valuable commodities.

Scottish investor Donald Houston of Ardnamurchan Estates has substantial stakes in all three companies, noting that sustainability had been a “major component of Ardnamurchan Distillery’s overall strategy”.

“Celtic Renewables needs a biproduct of whisky distilling called pot ale to assist in its testing process before starting full production of its biochemicals and biofuel,” he said.

“The pot ale is piped over the hill from the distillery to the neighbouring Woodland Renewables, a local business set up to repurpose the distillery’s by-products whilst adding value to the local economy.

“At the Woodland Renewables plant it is combined with draff (another distillery by-product) and turned into a nutritious animal feed used on the peninsula to feed local livestock. Woodland Renewables will transport part of their pot ale stock to Celtic Renewables.”

Ardnamurchan Distillery Managing Director Alex Bruce added: “We designed The Ardnamurchan Distillery to be as sustainable as possible, and we continue to monitor and develop this as new technologies become available.

“Our energy all comes from local renewable sources (hydro and biomass) and our co-products, which are traditionally produced in all distilleries, are supplied to our neighbours, Woodland Renewables.

“From there they add value to the local circular economy by providing highly nutritional animal feed to livestock on Ardnamurchan, and we are incredibly excited that they also now deliver additional value to Celtic Renewables for conversion into sustainable chemicals and biofuels.”