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Whiskey barrels (symbol picture): During the production of the Scottish national drink, there is leftover grain from which biogas can be obtained.
Photo: Leon Harris / Cultura RF / Getty Images
What is the name of the raw material for tomorrow's mobility - lithium, hydrogen, or at least ... whiskey?
In any case, the Scottish spirits distiller Glenfiddich is increasingly using biogas for its trucks from residues that arise in the production of the national drink.
The company claims to have opened gas stations for the alternative fuel at its distillery in Dufftown.
Three trucks have already been converted to biogas.
In this way, everyone saves 250 tons of CO2 a year and thus reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 95 percent.
Later, at least all of the manufacturer's 20 trucks and the entire fleet of the parent company William Grant & Sons could run on the alternative fuel.
It is made from grains that are left over from whiskey production.
So far, most of them have been used to produce protein-rich cattle feed, said plant manager Stuart Watts.
In a fermentation process, bacteria could also break down the grains into gas.
The family business sells more than 14 million bottles of single malt whiskey a year.
William Grant & Sons is considered the third largest whiskey producer in Scotland, behind Diageo (with brands like "Johnnie Walker" and "J&B") and Chivas ("Ballantines", "The Glenlivet" and others).
The Scottish spirits manufacturer is not the first company to run its vehicles with self-produced fuel.
The municipal waste disposal company Hamburgwasser uses digester gas for this purpose, which is obtained from sewage sludge.
nis / Reuters
