SustainPower supports Distell Springs in achieving sustainability goals, thanks to its combined heat and power (CHP) unit

Distell, a global beverage company with a wide range of award-winning brands, such as Amarula, Savanna, Hunter’s Dry, and many others, continues to ramp-up its sustainability efforts. A CHP unit from SustainPower was installed less than a year ago at its Springs cider manufacturing operation to convert the effluent treatment plant’s biogas into power. This is the first step to making the effluent treatment plant energy-neutral in the short-term, and energy-positive in the future.

About SustainPower

SustainPower provides modular gas-to-power solutions for biogas, natural gas, and landfill gas that are housed and transported in custom-fitted shipping containers. Based in Cape Town, with clients throughout Africa, they provide sustainable, clean power to industries and commerce in the developing world.

Distell’s commitment to sustainability

Distell’s effluent treatment plant, which processes wastewater from the beverage making process, is designed to produce up to 100 m³ per hour of high-grade biogas with methane levels consistently hovering around 90%. The SustainPower SP-550-BG-CHP, which harvests the mechanical energy from the generator and the thermal energy from the combustion process, provides up to 450 kWe (electrical power) and has 500 kW of thermal energy available for use in the plant process.

“Distell is committed to leaving a positive legacy, which means finding opportunities at each point along their value chain to do more, be better, and foster positive change”, says Daniel Melenas, Engineering Manager at Distell Springs. For him, seeing such a high-quality product being built locally is a good thing. “We chose SustainPower because of their local presence and high-quality design and build. It was also impressive to see the machine produce electricity within only three days after arriving on-site”, he concluded.

Containerized gas CHP unit

SustainPower COO, Ames Martin says “we designed, built, and tested the CHP unit in Cape Town before we shipped it to Distell. Because the CHP unit is containerized, it arrives on-site fully prepped and ready, with minimal external installation work required, reducing project risk and potential downtime”.

As a result of the SustainPower CHP installation, Distell now enjoys an average daily energy reduction of 5500 kWh. This translates to a monetary saving of more than R300,000 per month, or a 6.7% overall reduction in electricity expenses for the Distell’s Springs plant. The CHP unit has also brought about a significant reduction in greenhouse emissions of close to 150 tons of CO2 per month.

Combined heat and power (CHP) unit performance

As a final word, Ames Martin added “we’re not only focused on power generation that is sustainable, but also on a sustainable product that can meet the rigorous demands made on it over its lifetime. Thus, the real heart of ‘sustainable’ power generation”.

For more on SustainPower containerized solutions, feel free to contact us today.