WETWINE

Project Title : Transnational cooperation project for the promoting the conservation and protection of the natural heritage in the wine sector in the South West of Europe.
Funding : INTERREG SUDOE
Duration : 01/07/2016 - 30/06/2019
Coordination : INGACAL (Spain)
Status IFV : Partner

Summary :

Water consumption for cleaning wineries and treating winery effluents is an important issue. Vineyards require moderate use of fertilisers with adequate input of organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus and oligoelements. The use of mineral fertilisers represents a high cost for vine growers, along with their potential impact on the soil and water quality.

WETWINE aims to help to solve effluent treatment in wine industries, through an innovative pilot, combining anaerobic digestion (methanisation) with planted filters for effluent treatment. The objective is to promote the valorisation and use of the territories’ resources and recycle effluents as a fertilizer in order to reduce the impact of the wine production on the natural environment.

The expected impacts of the project are :

• Valorising winery effluents and limiting the emissions and contaminations of soil and water (valorization of 90% of effluents)
• The WETWINE system and the fertiliser obtained will reduce 90% of the impact of the wineries in the SUDOE territory
• Direct transfer of the results to the main wine production areas of the SUDOE zone (ie Rioja, Douro, Rias Baixas, Pays d’Oc).
  

Although the characteristics of wine effluents vary from a winery to another and depend on their activity and type of production, a common solution for treating effluents makes sense. It will be necessary to adapt the parameters of conception and functioning to each winery. The fertilizer obtained will also depend on the activity of the winery. In this sense, transnational cooperation will be necessary to adapt a solution to a common problem to each specific situation.