Winery wastewater research to practice
Abstract
The main objective of this project was to deliver training to the wine industry on the research on winery wastewater management and how that research can be adopted by the wine industry. A workshop structure was devised that consisted of modules that included existing information and research findings and how this information could be applied in the wine industry.
The report includes a copy of the training modules.
Workshops were conducted in 17 sites in wine-producing areas across Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. Approximately 326 wine makers, operators, environmental managers participated in the learning and improved practice experience over the life of the project. By presenting seminars at special wastewater recycle and reuse workshops and conferences, the winery wastewater management related information was further disseminated to additional 390 people. The feedback from the workshops was very good, with most participants indicting that the workshops fulfilled their needs.
Summary
Environmentally and economically sustainable management of winery waste and wastewater is a high priority for the industry. Each winery generates wastewater with a unique quality, quantity and seasonal variation pattern. Winery wastewater is often of high strength and is highly variable in quantity and quality making it a difficult effluent to manage. The diversity of practices in wineries results in a diversity of effluents. For example water usage per tonne of crush ranged from 0.4 – 8.0 kL/tonne. There are similar wide ranges of values for diatomaceous earth, DE usage (0 – 8.2 kg/tonne of crush) and caustic, NaOH usage (0 – 2.2 kg/tonne).
The challenge of handling winery wastewater has been studied in Australia by several Wine Australia funded projects including work by Chapman et al. (1995a and b), Frost et al. (2007), Kumar et al. (2006) and Kumar et al. (2009a and b).
The overall aim of the project was to develop a training program on winery wastewater management techniques and to increase the industry‟s awareness and knowledge on matters of regulation and good practice for effective and informed stakeholder engagement. This was to be achieved largely by conducting workshops in wine-producing regions. These workshops addressed the needs and interests of the local wine industry on issues such as: * How to reduce the amount of wastewater; * What are the key winery wastewater quality characteristics; * Limitations and advantages of the treatment processes that are currently used in Australia; * Regulatory frameworks and guidelines for winery wastewater re-use; * Options for winery wastewater re-use; * Salt management options associated with winery wastewater irrigation; and Risk assessment approach to manage wastewater management related issues.