Whisky distilleries take their turn in the legislative queue

As governments and legislators battle to improve air quality, the UK is playing its part in rolling out the EU’s Medium Combustion Plant Directive to curb harmful emissions.

Flogas Britain takes a look at the implications of this legislation for the UK whisky industry and discusses how the switch to cleaner fuel has enabled Scottish distillery Tamnavulin to not only reduce its emissions, but reap big cost savings.

A chief component of Scotland’s food and beverage exports, over one hundred million cases of Scottish whisky are distributed across the world annually. The growth in the industry and the sheer volume of production has seen whisky distilleries in the UK become significant users of energy.

For centuries the recipe and method of production has hardly changed. However, as the industry begins to adopt more sustainable practices and consumers become increasingly concerned about the provenance of their products, there’s a shift in the energy sources used to power the distilleries.

Governmental legislation around environmental protection is also driving change, with the implementation of actionable and enforceable targets. The most recent of these in relation to whisky production is the Medium Combustion Plants Directive (MCPD).

The legislation in brief

The purpose of the MCPD is to limit harmful emissions being vented to the atmosphere from boilers and other stationary combustion plants in the 1-50 MWth (thermal megawatt) range – that is, those plants which are considered to be of “medium” size.

The MCPD will regulate the concentration levels of sulphur dioxide (SO₂), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and particulate matter (PM) within process exhaust gases, as well as laying down rules to monitor emissions of carbon monoxide (CO). The limits on the levels of pollutants that these plants can emit depend on their type, size, age, fuel selection and annual operating hours.

It is estimated that when fully implemented across the UK, these limits will provide a 24% reduction in SO₂ and 9% reduction in NOx emission targets the country will need to meet to comply with the UK’s 2030 national emission ceilings.

Signed into law in 2017, the MCPD regulation covers all fuel types and sets out specific Emission Limit Values (ELVs) most plants must meet by 2025. It also means that all new-build production facilities – those put into operation on or after 20^th December 2018 – now need a permit before commencing operations.

In addition to setting emissions limits, the directive makes provision for the formal inspection of plant facilities at defined intervals, with smaller medium-sized plants (1-20 MWth) being inspected every 3 years, and larger ones (20 – 50MWth) tested annually. Failure to meet required deadlines and processes could result in penalties for non-compliance

Existing plants may not require permits and testing for a number of years yet, however companies are starting to recognise the benefits of converting their combustion energy sources now – not only to ensure future compliance, but also due to the significant operational cost savings.

Implications for whisky distillers

Whisky distilleries are large users of energy.  A review undertaken by the research team at Energy Voice, estimated that Scotland’s 122 Whisky distilleries consume almost the same amount of energy each year as 250,000 British households.

For such an energy-intensive industry, the need to reduce carbon emissions is paramount in order to comply with the MCPD, but for distilleries, cutting costs is also high on the agenda.

Increasing energy efficiency can play a big part in that, given that energy costs are among the top three outlays for distillers alongside wheat/malted barley and salary costs. The larger the operation, the more energy-intensive its requirements, but, the greater the opportunity for cost savings by switching to a more efficient fuel.