GEA Wiegand has successfully commissioned the key equipment and distillation process technology for Pernod Ricard’s €100 million expansion project at the Irish distiller’s Midleton site.
Tommy Keane, head of distilling operations, said: “We chose to partner with GEA Wiegand; 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.”
The site’s 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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