THE ECO POND

Our pond has its own ecosystem with fish and other residents, including the occasional visiting pelicans – much to the irritation of the resident fish. This serves as testament to the positive natural recycling processes going on at our distillery. The eco system of the pond is regularly monitored by the Government Industrial Technology Institute to ensure the water in the pond is eco-friendly.

Re-usable energy

During the anaerobic digestion process, quantities of biogas are captured with large purpose built tanks. These gases are then re-used as a substitute fuel to fire our boilers that provide the heat for distillation. Through this process, we have seen reductions in fuel consumption of our boilers by up to 15% and we are constantly striving to improve on these figures.

WATER CONSERVATION

One of our latest projects is our water-recycling project. The current condenser which cools the hot Arrack vapour from the still to produce liquid Arrack is fed with water, which heats up to a high temperature as it passes through the condenser to exit as hot water.

Until currently, this water would go to waste. We recently completed construction of an open-air water recycling tank and system to cool this hot water and recycle it, thereby saving as much as 30,000 Litres of water a day.

The water needs to be replaced every three months rather than every day, as per the current system, this means saving approximately 2.7 Million Litres of water every quarter.

As the water is obtained from the deep bore tube wells, the water is free of charge and recycling the water does not offer us any financial benefit, however our focus is always to preserve our natural eco systems for the future even though at the current time there is no shortage of water in Sri Lanka, which is a tropical country with plenty of water.

Waste Product

The primary source of waste from any distillery is the effluent produced after distillation. At Rockland Distillery, the effluent is fully biodegraded via a process of anaerobic and aerobic digestion by natural bacteria. It is one of our more costly distillery processes, but one that tops our list of production priorities

The effluent produced is trickled down a sloped drainage system that runs the length of the distillery estate. This allows gravity to do the hard work transporting the waste from one stage to another, also allowing it to cool naturally, before it is fed to the anaerobic digesters. This means we can save on unnecessary pumps and electrical processes, adding to our eco-credentials.

After passing through the digestion stage, the effluent is fed to the facultative ponds where the aerobic digestion takes place. Water hyacinth plants flourish within these ponds, absorbing any minerals left in the effluent, and these are harvested from time to time, dried and used as fertilizer for coconut trees.

At the end of this process the affluent is fully treated and all that is left at the end is water. This water is then fed into our eco-pond.

Recycling

We recycle wherever possible, and often in imaginative ways- such as harvesting the ponds' mineral-rich water hyacinth plants and using them as coconut tree fertiliser. We also purpose-grow our own halmilla trees, which, when old enough are harvested to make Ceylon Arrack casks- therefore helping to prevent the logging of natural forests.

The Buildings

Our distillery office buildings were built with 15ft high ceilings and large windows, meaning cool air can circulate naturally with only the help of fans, rather than more costly and environmentally damaging air conditioning. The mature trees surrounding our offices, which were carefully planned into the design of the distillery, also help to keep our working environment cool through the shade that they give.

The Elephants

At Rockland, we are passionate about wildlife- especially our native elephants! This is why we contribute towards the conservation of wildlife in Sri Lanka with every single bottle of Ceylon Arrack sold.