Food & Beverage Innovations
Glenmorangie: Clean Water with Aquabio
Modern Technology meets Tradition
Glenmorangie’s whiskeys are enjoyed worldwide, but according to its founders, it can only be crafted in one place – the town of Tain in the northeast of Scotland. To preserve this unique heritage for future generations, they partnered with Aquabio, a part of Freudenberg Filtration Technologies, to protect the environment. Now, the by-products of distillation are converted into energy and fertilizer. The water used is filtered to 95% allowing the marine ecosystem to recover. Wastewater is truly becoming “the water of life” once again.
Filtration solutions by Aquabio help the environment heal
Glenmorangie had an ambitious plan: to save the environment that does so much for them and their whisky. They wanted to improve the water quality and biodiversity in the nearby sea by setting up oyster banks, healing the ecosystem after decades of overfishing.
Aquabio, a Freudenberg company, developed the solution: They provided the anaerobic membrane bioreactor. A low energy solution that uses bacteria to digest the distillery’s waste into valuable fuel, fertilizer and then filter water to be given back to nature without any risk to the environment.
The by-products of the distillery are made into:
- biogas to cut the company’s fossil fuel consumption by 15%
- a nutrient-rich fertilizer, rich in copper, to grow the region’s barley
- water that is 95% free of organic compounds
This system is modular and can easily be adapted by other industries to benefit by making waste into resources and improving the environment.
