Diageo advances Scottish biomass plant

Fife, UK - Drinks giant Diageo is establishing  a £65-million bioenergy facility at the Cameronbridge Distillery in Fife, Scotland. The project is said to be the UK's largest single investment in renewable technology by a non-utility company, and will help reduce CO2 emissions from the site by around 56,000 tonnes per year.

Due for completion in summer 2010, the bioenergy facility will generate renewable energy from the spent ‘wash’ produced during the distillation process and will integrate a range of technologies including anaerobic digestion and biomass conversion.

Diageeo and its partner, Dalkia, have selected Dunphy Combustion to provide the burners for the facility. Each of the five burners has the capability of burning biogas, with two set up to burn either biogas or natural gas, according to Dunphy.

The option to fire natural gas is required during the initial start up phase and as supplementary fuel as and when required. The distillery wash is a mixture of wheat, malted barley, yeast and water which is separated into liquid and dried solids. Liquid residues are converted by anaerobic digestion into biogas. The dried solids form a biomass fuel source.

Dunphy designed the five burners to closely match the characteristics of the fuels to be used. The burner control systems will monitor changes in fuel calorific values, moisture content and other characteristics and adjust the combustion process accordingly to maximise efficiency.

Burner digital control systems and supply pipework design has all been carried out in Dunphy’s Rochdale-based R&D centre and in the adjacent manufacturing plant. The company designed in-house all the required software, electrical design and mechanical components and carried out the burner manufacturing process and testing.

According to Dunphy, it fought off a number of international competitors to gain the Diageo plant contract. The burners, it added, will be fitted to an Indian manufactured boiler with Dunphy carrying out the commissioning and staff training on site at Cameronbridge.