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Muntons reaches key power from waste milestone
Muntons, based in Stowmarket, Suffolk, has reached a key milestone having generated 10 million kilowatt-hours of electricity since opening its Anaerobic Digester (AD) plant in January 2015, enough electricity to power 2,000 average-sized homes every year.
Muntons became the first maltster in the UK to take this step for increased sustainability. Not only does the AD plant generate electricity, it also makes significant reductions in road haulage. By using its own process waste water, residues from the processing of barley into malt and malt extract, they have saved the equivalent of 3,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. This substantial saving is the equivalent of the emissions from 1,600 cars every year.
Muntons has generated 10 million kilowatt-hours of electricity since opening its Anaerobic Digester plant in 2015 / Picture: Andy Janes
A by-product of the process is a high quality digestate, or bio-fertiliser, which can then be used on local farms to enrich the soil, helping to ensure top quality crops are grown ready to be malted.
Nigel Davies, director of technical and sustainability at Muntons, said: “Our decision to build an AD plant has proved to be well founded, making a valuable contribution to our energy requirements. Generating energy locally is efficient and environmentally sound, and the positive impact on nature is significant, reducing greenhouse gasses and helping to enrich the soil on local farms.”
Muntons has calculated that since the plant was commissioned, it has produced 5,606,175 cubic metres of biogas. It has also treated 411,000 cubic metres of waste water, which is then safely introduced into the River Gipping in Suffolk.