Reducing the carbon footprint in winemaking by capturing carbon dioxide from fermentation ZEROPOLLUTION-07

Nowadays, the goal of society as a whole is to reduce the carbon footprint of every sector. Everyone should focus on how they can contribute to this goal. Likewise, wine production is associated with a large production of greenhouse gases, which are released into the atmosphere without further use. These gases are mainly produced during the alcoholic fermentation of grape must.  What is released during fermentation forms a mixture of fermentation gases. The fermentation gases contain not only most of the carbon dioxide (CO2) as a product of the yeast's metabolism during fermentation, but also a significant amount of volatile aromatic compounds. Capturing this fermentation gas for subsequent use has many economic and environmental advantages, but it can also have a positive impact on the quality of the final product - both wine and carbonated beverages.

The mixture of fermentation gases captured during the fermentation of must is mainly used in the food industry. This will be appreciated by both small and large wineries. They will be able to reuse the captured mixture of fermentation gases to carbonate wine. In addition, they can use the surplus to produce secondary products (e.g. soft drinks) or sell to other customers.

Our solution is to promote a circular economy and reduce the carbon footprint of the wine industry. Where we capture waste, in our case carbon dioxide, and then use it to produce wine or new soft drinks. Such a drink will have a unique taste and will consist of sustainable ingredients. At our department we have been dealing with this topic for several years. We have real results where our solution works and wineries are able to capture their own carbon dioxide and then use it. They do not have to buy it from other sources. They also use it for other applications or sell it to other companies.

We would like to join a consortium that will focus on promoting a circular economy, a zero-waste economy or trying to reduce the carbon footprint of the wine industry.