Kentucky Distilled Spirits Industrial Decarbonization and Sustainability

DeBolt Scope of Services: The Dis lled Spirits Industrial Decarboniza on and Sustainability Demonstra on program in Kentucky will involve the demonstra on of co-?ring with hydrogen and the demonstra on of agrivoltaics opera ons that can bene?t the industry. The dis lled spirits industry in Kentucky has experienced unprecedented growth in the past 12 years with both numbers of dis lleries and expansion of exis ng sites. Resul ng demands on natural resources are coupled with industry wide e?orts to move towards emissions targets at neutrality. Demosntra ons of commercially viable technology are needed to solve these decarboniza on goals. Phase 1 one of the project proposed herein aims to take de?ned steps to introduce hydrogen as a feedstock for steam genera on, with direct BTU replacement for the natural gas boilers currently used across the industry. Project will demonstrate hydrogen as a feedstock at the James B Beam Ins tute for Kentucky Spirits at the University of Kentucky, a newly constructed research and educa on dis llery. Changing any part of the steam injected into the column s ll will require subsequent tes ng of the dis llate arising from changes to the hydrogen load. The Phase two of the project will focus on the role of agrivoltaics, which are in their infancy. Agrivoltaics use the land for both agriculture and solar photovoltaic energy produc on. Benchmarking against opera ng systems in Germany will be paramount to bring this technology to Kentucky. Our goal is to pilot design a system, iden fy and build the team to demonstrate a 1 megawa array and grow wheat, rye and corn for dis llery raw materials needs crea ng a system for deep decarboniza on of the bourbon industry.