Fluids Handling

Landia Chopper Pump supports wastewater handling at English whisky distillery

Landia 11 minutes ago

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l-r will skinner josh edge — L-R Will Skinner, Distillery Manager at Rosemaund Farm Distillery, with Josh Edge from pump manufacturer, Landia.

A Landia Chopper Pump is helping Rosemaund Farm Distillery near Hereford manage wastewater as the site produces its premium single malt English whisky.

The Landia pump, installed in a low-lying reception tank, transfers wastewater and run-off liquid from the distillery to two above-ground storage tanks. The automated system has replaced an older positive displacement pump that struggled to handle solid particles and regularly restricted flow.

Rosemaund Farm Distillery is located at the site where the Chase vodka and gin brand was previously produced before it was purchased by Diageo and moved to Scotland.

For the distillery, effective wastewater management is an important part of maintaining reliable site operations, particularly as production continues and rainfall can increase the volume of liquid entering the wastewater system.

Landia Chopper Pump handles solids in wastewater

The new Landia unit is a DG-I 50 4.0kW 3000rpm high-pressure chopper pump. Unlike the previous positive displacement pump, it incorporates Landia’s external knife system which continuously reduces the size of particles in the wastewater stream.

The result is a pumping system designed to deal more effectively with solids while reducing the risk of blockages and flow restrictions.

“The old pump was adapted from a previous use,” said Distillery Manager Will Skinner, “and wasn’t really designed for an application where solids need to be dealt with efficiently. In addition to clogging up, it also didn’t have the capacity, so only half of the tank was being emptied. There was a cage around the old pump to protect it from solids, so it became a very messy and time-consuming drain on manpower to keep sorting it out.”

The previous arrangement therefore created both an operational and maintenance burden for the distillery team. In addition to the problems caused by solids, the pump’s limited capacity meant that the reception tank could not be fully emptied.

guy ritchie shareholder collaborator at rosemaund — Guy Ritchie, Creator of the Netflix series, The Gentlemen, is an early backer, shareholder & creative collaborator at Rosemaund.

Automated wastewater pumping system

The new installation includes a control panel and a continuous level measurement sensor. The sensor alerts the Rosemaund team when the storage tanks are approaching the point at which the wastewater needs to be removed by tanker.

This provides the distillery with greater visibility of wastewater levels and reduces the need for employees to monitor the system manually.

Before the new pump and level sensor were installed, a member of the Rosemaund team had to remain on standby, including at weekends, to attend the site when required. This was particularly important during periods of heavy rainfall when wastewater and run-off volumes could increase.

landia pump at rosemaund farm distillery — The Landia pump at Rosemaund Farm Distillery helps protect local watercourses.

Futureproofing wastewater management

The move to an automated pumping arrangement is intended to make the wastewater process more reliable while reducing the amount of manual intervention required.

“We’re not on site 24/7 of course,” added Will Skinner, “so with the much heavier rainfall we get these days, it was important for us to futureproof the process by investing in a better, all-round automated solution that would also protect local watercourses. With whisky production we don’t have the same level of solids that we had from the potatoes for the vodka, but solids are inevitable in a waste stream, which we know that the Landia Chopper Pump will deal with very efficiently.”

The ability to handle solids is particularly relevant to the distillery’s wastewater application. While whisky production produces a different waste stream from the potato-based production associated with vodka, the presence of solids still needs to be considered when selecting pumping equipment.

The Landia Chopper Pump’s cutting system provides a way of reducing particle size before the wastewater is transferred to storage.

r-l josh edge will skinner — L-R Will Skinner, Distillery Manager at Rosemaund Farm Distillery, with Josh Edge from pump manufacturer, Landia.

From vodka and gin to single malt whisky

Rosemaund Farm Distillery has a history that links its current whisky production with the site’s previous use for Chase vodka and gin.

Following the purchase of the Chase vodka and gin brand, James Dashwood Chase began experimenting with whisky production and wood ageing in 2012. This eventually led to the anticipated release of the first Rosemaund 10-year-old single malt.

The distillery is located in Herefordshire, a county widely associated with cider production. The cask warehouse is surrounded by orchards, providing a distinctive setting for the whisky’s maturation.

The surrounding landscape also forms part of the sensory experience associated with the whisky, with apple blossom scent often among the first characteristics noticed when tasting Rosemaund whisky.

For Rosemaund Farm Distillery, the Landia installation provides a more automated approach to wastewater handling while addressing the practical challenges associated with solids, rainfall and changing production requirements.

The combination of a chopper pump, level monitoring and automated controls is helping the distillery reduce manual intervention and maintain a more reliable wastewater transfer process as its English single malt whisky production develops.

Contact Details

Landia Ltd

0194 8661 200
info@landia.co.uk
http://www.landia.co.uk
Waymills Industrial Estate, Whitchurch, Shropshire, SY13 1TT GB

About us

Landia's headquarters are located in Lem, which is how it has been since 1933. Today, Landia has subsidiaries in England, Germany, Norway and the US, and a sales office in China. In addition, Landia products are sold in 45 countries worldwide. Landia supplies pumping and mixing solutions to many different industries, with the most important ones being agriculture, wastewater, biogas plants and the fish industry. In general, you will find Landia's products wherever there is a difficult medium to be pumped or mixed. Landia survives by selling quality solutions in close partnership with the customers.

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