苏格兰研究人员将酿造威士忌废料转换为燃料

 

Whisky has grown popular around the world in the last 10 years. New distilleries are opening, and old distilleries are trying to produce more whisky.

But as people make more whisky, they are also making more whisky waste – huge amounts of leftover¹ grain and liquid.

Distillers do not have many options for what to do with this material. Some give it away to farms to feed animals.

Others pay over $300,000 per year to dispose of it.

And now, a company in Edinburgh, Scotland called Celtic Renewables is trying to make fuel with it.

What is draff anyway?

To understand whisky waste, you have to understand how whisky is made.

First, distillers take barley², corn or rye and turn the grain into mash³. Then they combine the mixture with yeast⁴. The yeast causes fermentation and creates alcohol.

Distillers heat the mash, create steam and then cool it down quickly. Alcohol vapor⁵ turns into liquid, ages, and eventually becomes whisky.

The used grain and water remain. In Scotland, the leftovers⁶ are called “draff” and “pot ale.”

Waste to biofuel

In 2015, Celtic Renewables received money from the Scottish government for their idea to turn draff and pot ale into fuel. The money has allowed the company to create a factory able to produce 500,000 liters of biofuel each year.

The company hopes to open the factory next year.

Martin Tangney is the president of Celtic Renewables. He thinks Scotland alone has enough raw materials from the whisky industry to produce 50 million liters of biofuel right away.

Tangney recently drove a car powered by his company’s fuel around a university in Scotland.

“It's quite fitting to use a Ford⁷ for this historic drive as the original Model-T Ford ran on biofuel, and the fermentation that we've developed to put the fuel in this car is a hundred years old, proven at large scale.”

The goal is not to replace gasoline completely. It is to reduce gasoline consumption and figure out what to do with the leftover material from distilling⁸ whisky.

Tangney said his product can make up to 15 percent of commercial gasoline without drivers having to modify their engines.

"The whisky industry will now have a sustainable and reliable way of disposing of their residue⁹,” Tangney said. "Plus we’ll create a brand new industry out of something that has no value whatsoever¹⁰."

I’m Dan Friedell.

Words in This Story

distillery – n. a place where alcohol like whisky or vodka is produced

mash – n. a wet mixture of crushed malt or grain that is used in making alcoholic¹¹ drinks (such as beer and whiskey)

yeast – n. a type of fungus¹² that is used in making alcoholic drinks (such as beer and wine) and in baking to help make dough¹³ rise

fermentation – n. a chemical process that results in the production of alcohol

steam – n. the hot gas that is created when water is boiled

biofuel – n. fuel that can power vehicles or engines made from natural substances instead of oil

reliable – adj. able to be trusted to do or provide what is needed : able to be relied on

residue – n. a usually small amount of something that remains after a process has been completed or a thing has been removed

1 leftover   

n.剩货，残留物，剩饭；adj.残余的

参考例句：

• These narrow roads are a leftover from the days of horse-drawn carriages.这些小道是从马车时代沿用下来的。
• Wonder if that bakery lets us take leftover home.不知道那家糕饼店会不会让我们把卖剩的带回家。

2 barley   

n.大麦，大麦粒

参考例句：

• They looked out across the fields of waving barley.他们朝田里望去,只见大麦随风摇摆。
• He cropped several acres with barley.他种了几英亩大麦。

3 mash   

n.麦芽浆，糊状物，土豆泥；v.把…捣成糊状，挑逗，调情

参考例句：

• He beat the potato into a mash before eating it.他把马铃薯捣烂后再吃。
• Whiskey,originating in Scotland,is distilled from a mash of grains.威士忌源于苏格兰，是从一种大麦芽提纯出来的。

4 yeast   

n.酵母；酵母片；泡沫；v.发酵；起泡沫

参考例句：

• Yeast can be used in making beer and bread.酵母可用于酿啤酒和发面包。
• The yeast began to work.酵母开始发酵。

5 vapor   

n.蒸汽，雾气

参考例句：

• The cold wind condenses vapor into rain.冷风使水蒸气凝结成雨。
• This new machine sometimes transpires a lot of hot vapor.这部机器有时排出大量的热气。

6 leftovers   

n.剩余物，残留物，剩菜

参考例句：

• He can do miracles with a few kitchen leftovers.他能用厨房里几样剩饭做出一顿美餐。
• She made supper from leftovers she had thrown together.她用吃剩的食物拼凑成一顿晚饭。

7 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

8 distilling   

n.蒸馏（作用）v.蒸馏( distil的过去式和过去分词 )( distilled的过去分词 )；从…提取精华

参考例句：

• Water can be made pure by distilling it. 水经蒸馏可变得纯净。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• More ammonium sulphate solution is being recovered in the process of distilling oil shale. 在提炼油页岩的过程中回收的硫酸铵液比过去多了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 residue   

n.残余，剩余，残渣

参考例句：

• Mary scraped the residue of food from the plates before putting them under water.玛丽在把盘子放入水之前先刮去上面的食物残渣。
• Pesticide persistence beyond the critical period for control leads to residue problems.农药一旦超过控制的临界期，就会导致残留问题。

10 whatsoever   

adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么

参考例句：

• There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
• All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样，你就怎样对人。

11 alcoholic   

adj.（含）酒精的，由酒精引起的；n.酗酒者

参考例句：

• The alcoholic strength of brandy far exceeds that of wine.白兰地的酒精浓度远远超过葡萄酒。
• Alcoholic drinks act as a poison to a child.酒精饮料对小孩犹如毒药。

12 fungus   

n.真菌，真菌类植物

参考例句：

• Mushrooms are a type of fungus.蘑菇是一种真菌。
• This fungus can just be detected by the unaided eye.这种真菌只用肉眼就能检查出。

13 dough   

n.生面团；钱，现款

参考例句：

• She formed the dough into squares.她把生面团捏成四方块。
• The baker is kneading dough.那位面包师在揉面。