While the whisky ages, a Landia pump keeps the wastewater under control
At Rosemaund Farm Distillery in England, producing a 10-year-old single malt whisky takes patience. Wastewater management, however, cannot wait. An old pump caused repeated problems with clogging and insufficient capacity, and staff had to keep an eye on the system, including at weekends. With a Landia Chopper pump and automatic level monitoring, the distillery now has a solution that requires far less day-to-day attention.
An old pump that created extra work
At the site near Hereford, where vodka was previously produced, wastewater and run-off are collected and pumped to two above-ground storage tanks. From there, the wastewater is tankered away.
“The old pump was adapted from a previous use 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,” says Distillery Manager Will Skinner.
To protect the pump from solids, a cage had been fitted around it. However, this also meant that staff had to spend time cleaning and maintaining the installation.
“It became a very messy and time-consuming drain on manpower to keep sorting it out,” says Will.
A pump that can handle the solids
The solution was a 4 kW Landia DG-I 50 Chopper pump, installed in the low-lying reception tank.
Its external knife system continuously cuts solids into smaller particles, reducing the risk of blockages and helping maintain a reliable flow to the two storage tanks.
“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,” says Will Skinner.
Less time spent on standby, even at weekends
It was not just the pump that needed replacing. The distillery also wanted better control of its wastewater handling.
Previously, a member of staff had to be on standby outside normal working hours, including at weekends, to keep an eye on the system. Heavy rainfall in particular could mean an extra trip to the distillery to check the wastewater levels.
The new installation also includes a control panel and a continuous level sensor that alerts the team when the storage tanks are approaching the level at which they need to be emptied by tanker.
“We’re not on site 24/7 of course, 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,” says Will Skinner.
From vodka and gin to a 10-year-old single malt
Rosemaund Farm Distillery is where the British Chase vodka and gin brand was produced until it was bought by Diageo and production moved to Scotland.
James Dashwood Chase began experimenting with whisky production and cask ageing back in 2012. This work eventually led to the release of Rosemaund’s first 10-year-old single malt whisky.
The distillery is located in Herefordshire, a county renowned for its cider production, and the cask warehouse is surrounded by orchards. So it is perhaps no surprise that the scent of apple blossom is one of the characteristic notes many people notice in the whisky.
Project facts
- Customer: Rosemaund Farm Distillery, Herefordshire, England
- Challenge: An undersized pump prone to blockages, requiring frequent manual attention and out-of-hours checks
- Solution: Landia DG-I 50 Chopper pump (high-pressure), 4 kW, 3,000 rpm, with control panel and continuous level measurement
- Result: Reduced risk of blockages, less need for manual monitoring and improved control of wastewater storage levels
Guy Ritchie, Creator of the Netflix series, The Gentlemen, is an early backer, shareholder & creative collaborator at Rosemaund.
