There's More to a Grape Than a Glass of Wine...Biomass in the Wine Industry

The wine industry in large wine producing countries such as Australia, South Africa, Italy, France and Spain have at their disposal a substantial quantity of biomass in the form of grape skins, pips, stalks, fermentation residues and wastewater sludge. All of these waste materials can readily be converted into energy.

It is widely reported that wine producers are not utilizing these waste materials and are therefore losing out on a valuable energy source. Not only is it suggested that wine producers could reduce their energy costs by 50% by converting their waste biomass into energy but they would also be reducing the energy required to dispose of the waste. In some cases wine producers could even sell their biomass waste to neighbouring farms or industries with biomass systems in place.

There are many ways in which this wine waste could be converted into bioenergy, a few being:

1. Biomass boiler systems supply heat to absorption chillers used year round for non-vintage refrigeration

2. All refrigeration electricity is supplied via a biomass gasifier

3. Biomass boiler system used to heat domestic water on the property