Dalwhinnie Distillery, Dalwhinnie

Background

Dalwhinnie Distillery is located in the Cairngorm National Park in the heart of the Scottish Highlands in a small village called Dalwhinnie, home to a famous Highland Single Malt Whisky. Voted “Best Distillery Tour 2017” the Dalwhinnie Distillery attracts visitors from all over the World and during the peak season can potentially attract up to 300 visitors a day. Before Graf UK proposed this unique system, the distillery’s waste from their toilet block was going into a large septic tank, where very little treatment was taking place. They decided to replace this outdated system with a GRAF advanced wastewater treatment plant in order for the wastewater to be treated so that the effluent could safely re-enter the water cycle. The discharge would then be pumped into a soakaway, made up of the GRAF Infiltration Tunnels. 

Solution

Graf UK specified and designed a bespoke 2-line 90PE sewage treatment plant for Filpumps big enough to cater for visitor numbers during the peak season. The benefit of using a 2-line system is that one line can be shut down at any time and the other line can continue to treat the wastewater. This solution was ideal for the distillery as the number of people that visit the distillery is usually low in the winter months. Contractors McKerron and Milne of Rothes, who worked in conjunction with wastewater systems specialist, Filpumps, were then called in for the installation of this bespoke system.

Results

The whole system comprises of 7nr. 6500L Carat tanks. The first 3 Carat wastewater tanks will be used as buffer tanks to store the incoming sludge. The final 4 Carat tanks contain sequencing batch reactor (SBR) technology to effectively and efficiently treat the incoming waste from the distillery. The benefit of using SBR systems means there are no moving or electrical components within the tanks. There are air diffusers at the bottom of the SBR tanks that pump oxygen into the tanks that keep the microorganisms alive, these microorganisms then biologically break down the solids, allowing sludge to sink to the bottom of the tank and a treated water zone forms at top, to be pumped out on a scheduled basis.

“Graf UK were very helpful from the start, it was a long drawn out project during which I was well supported and when I needed information i.e design & drawings of the air hoses for installation, these were provided and made clear to me. The installers and I even got the support when I had a technical question when I commissioned the 2-line system, I got the answer that very day from Graf.” Syd Ross, Water and Wastewater Specialist, Filpumps