38b Utilization of Wine Waste as a Biofuel

Ryan Ravenelle, Tiffany Lau, Angie Deschutter, and Masahiko Kosa. Chemical Engineering, University of Nevada - Reno, Reno, NV 89501

This study evaluates the potential to use industry wine waste as a feedstock to produce a valuable product. By using pyrolysis, the important components in the grape waste are volatilized and can then be treated to yield a "bio-oil" fuel source as well as a syn-gas. A full scale process is proposed, with designs of some unit operations as well as a pyrolysis reactor. Experimental data is incorporated with literature data to get information about the pyrolysis kinetics. Also, the whole process is evaluated economically to see if it would be feasible for actual implementation.