How Distilleries Can Reduce Their Environmental Footprint

Ethimex offers distilleries a way to reduce their environmental footprint.

It is a topic that is relevant for all distillers, whether fermenting from grain, molasses or potatoes or distilling from neutral alcohol. Everyone familiar with the distilling process knows that the heads and tails (also known as foreshots and feints) are separated from the heart during distillation.

But what happens to those heads and tails?

Tails and sometimes heads can be reintroduced into the next distillation to recycle any residual ethanol. Some distillers find this improves the flavour of the end product, mainly if the tails are recycled. But not everyone goes for this option. Some argue it affects the purity of the heart and eventually the final product.

Distilleries run from a farm often use part the effluents as fertilizer but not everyone has this option and sustainability and the environmental footprint might become a secondary concern. For many distillers, it is not always clear-cut what to do for the best. In the end, skilled distillers are not necessarily recycling experts. What doesn’t help is that heads and tails are quite a mixed bag.  The heads that appear at the beginning of the distillation contain volatile compounds with low boiling points such as acetaldehyde, acetone, esters and the highly undesirable methanol. The tails left at the end of the process typically contain propanol, butanol, amyl - collectively known as fusel oils - and acetic acid.

Being a supplier to the distilling industry for many years, Ethimex noticed that the heads and tails are frequently treated as a waste stream, often with a cost attached to it. By teaming up with industrial alcohol recycling plants, Ethimex found a way to give the heads and tails a new life in the shape of recycled low-grade industrial alcohol. Heads and tails can be redistilled and processed into everyday products like culinary burning alcohol, fire-lighters, cleaning liquids and windscreen wash to name a few. To make things easy Ethimex has set up a simple operation where heads and tails are collected from the distiller and directly transported to the alcohol recycling plant. All logistics including conformity with excise regulations are taken care of by Ethimex’ logistics team.

Thanks to this operation, heads and tails can be turned from a waste stream into a revenue stream. The icing on the cake is that many distilleries can reduce their environmental footprint at zero cost.

 For more information visit Industrial Applications and Waste Ethanol. Contact us today.

This post was originally published on LinkedIn by Ethimex's UK Market Development Manager.