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GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft

Landmark 40% CO2 reduction from Midleton’s €100 million Distillery expansion

GEA Wiegand has successfully commissioned the key equipment and distillation process technology, supplied at the heart of the Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard €100 million expansion project at their Midleton Distillery

(PresseBox) (Ettlingen, )
Tommy Keane, Head of Distilling Operations, remarked that the expansion was undertaken to meet the projected growth of the Irish whiskey category following a 10-fold increase in Jameson sales over the past 25 years and the fact that the implementation of energy-saving measures would make a very real impact on both production costs and carbon footprint. “We chose to partner with GEA Wiegand”, said Tommy, “a collaboration in process development over a period of more than 5 years. Together, we were able to modernise our grain distillation and mash cooking operations, whilst preserving the absolutely essential Irish traditions and our unique spirit characteristics.”

Key figures:
Expansion capacity 64 MLA per annum
CO2 reduction 37,000 tonnes p.a.*
Fuel savings €5.5 million p.a.
Piping installation 8.5 km
Instrument loops 800
(*) equivalent for new energy-saving over traditional process, at expansion capacity

The new Grain Column unit was configured to distil under vacuum, with energy coupling by means of a pressure-vacuum cascade. Although a well-founded technique, the particular nature of the spirit required extensive development and validation. “This was achieved, both under laboratory and pilot scale conditions at the Midleton Distillery plant in order to counteract the impacts of temperature and pressure on certain key aromatic components” said GEA Wiegand spokesperson, David Scheiby. “This resulted in the achievement of a new technological milestone, with the first commercial distilling installation by means of Mechanical Vapour Recompression – or MVR, a heat pump – whereby energy is recovered mechanically and reintroduced back into the distillation column – an almost “virtuous circle” for the recovery and reuse of latent heat.”
The new grain distillation process has replaced and more than doubled the former distillery capacity. “Remarkably, the unit delivered spirit, within specifications, from its very first “hot” run – within a matter of hours of its first fermented mash fill”, said Tommy Keane.

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GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft

GEA Wiegand is a Core Technology Center within the GEA Group and is recognised worldwide for its evaporation, distillation and membrane filtration plants, vacuum systems, jet pumps, mixers, steam jet cooling plants and gas cleaning plants.
GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft is one of the largest suppliers for the food processing industry and a wide range of other process industries. As an international technology group, the Company focuses on process technology and components for sophisticated production processes. In 2013, GEA generated consolidated revenues in excess of EUR 4.3 billion, more than 70 percent of which came from the food sector, which is a long-term growth industry. The group employed about 18,000 people worldwide as of June 30, 2014. GEA Group is a market and technology leader in its business areas. It is listed in Germany’s MDAX stock index (G1A, WKN 660 200) and the STOXX® Europe 600 Index.

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The publisher indicated in each case (see company info by clicking on image/title or company info in the right-hand column) is solely responsible for the stories above, the event or job offer shown and for the image and audio material displayed. As a rule, the publisher is also the author of the texts and the attached image, audio and information material. The use of information published here is generally free of charge for personal information and editorial processing. Please clarify any copyright issues with the stated publisher before further use. In case of publication, please send a specimen copy to service@pressebox.de.