Diageo's Carbon-Neutral Distillery Fueled by Electric Boilers
Diageo has opened the first carbon-neutral distillery in the U.S. The new 72,000 square foot whiskey distillery in Lebanon, Ky., plans to run entirely on renewable energy thanks, in part, to the use of electric boilers. The plant can produce around 10 million proof gallons of bourbon and whiskey per year by using wind and solar energy.
“Outside renewable energy, another part of the switch is using electrode boilers—which run on electricity, rather than gas—to generate steam,” Dieter Holger of The Wall Street Journal writes. One of the challenges of moving away from fossil fuels for the Bulleit Whiskey producer was maintaining process integrity. To do so, rather than using traditional distillery industry equipment, the facility uses 13.8 KV, 22-foot-tall high voltage jet electrode boilers from Precision Boilers .
The boilers’ 175 psi design is capable of generating all the steam needed for onsite cooking, distilling and drying. Not only do the electrode boilers eliminate the need for fossil fuels, electric boilers require less maintenance and are nearly 100% efficient 24 hours a day, 365 days per year.
As GreenBiz noted, fossil fuel boilers require a certain minimum output before turning off, but electric boilers have the ability to turn down to a lower input range to closely match steam demand. This allows the boilers to be much more precise and reach the desired heat level almost immediately.
“Outside renewable energy, another part of the switch is using electrode boilers—which run on electricity, rather than gas—to generate steam for cooking, distillation and drying.” The Wall Street Journal
The new Lebanon distillery will be able to avoid 117,000 metric tons of carbon-dioxide emissions each year by eliminating fossil fuels using electric boilers, electric vehicles, solar panels and occupancy sensors.
To learn more about electric and electrode boilers, reach out to one of Precision Boilers’ reps or visit the website to see a full product lineup.