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Description
Founded in 2020, Ambrozia-essential oils Ltd. is a budding enterprise that specializes in the processing of agricultural and industrial waste. The company''s primary focus is on the production of high-value natural products widely used as food additives.
One of the environmental challenges Ambrozia aims to address is the surplus of grape marc, an organic byproduct of wine production that poses significant threats to the environment. This surplus, consisting mainly of polyphenols, often leads to uncontrolled disposal practices, which in turn contribute to phytotoxic issues in plant growth, water contamination, a decline in drinking water quality, and harm to vulnerable aquatic species.
To combat this issue, Ambrozia-essential oils Ltd. plans to invest in a grape marc processing line and a pellet production line. The company has already developed a comprehensive design and technological blueprint for an automated processing line with a capacity of 500 kg per hour. This strategic investment will yield notable environmental benefits, including the full utilization of 300 tons of grape marc waste from wine production annually and a reduction of 25,000 tons in CO2 emissions by the end of 2023. By addressing this pressing issue, Ambrozia-essential oils Ltd. exemplifies its commitment to environmental preservation and sustainability.
Summary of project results
According to Eurostat Bulgaria is at the second place in Europe for average percentage of households with pellet stoves/burners. The sharp rise in prices of other major energy sources - electricity, heating gas, firewood and others, has led to a sharp increase of the demand for quality pellets for combustion. The energy value of grape marc pellets is about 16-18 MJ / kg and is higher than the pellets of the good quality wood, which is about 13-14MJ / kg.
Grape marc is an organic /of plant origin/ waste from wine production and poses a serious threat to the environment. The recovery of this waste ("recovery" means any operation the principal result of which is waste serving a useful purpose by replacing other materials which would otherwise have been used to fulfil 7/14 a particular function, or waste being prepared to fulfil that function, in the plant or in the wider economy), given the huge amounts that are generated each year, has been identified by the European Commission as a priority in terms of environmental protection. At the same time, most wineries are small to medium-sized enterprises that cannot afford the proper management of the generated waste, and strict regulations limit the amount of ethanol that may be produced from their waste by distillation. Thus, the most common practice is to dispose the waste to open fields, where it is slowly transformed into fertiliser by aerobic biodegradation. The sludgy wastewater is also discarded in fields, lakes, rivers or the sea. The organic /of plant origin/ charge of wine-making wastes consists mainly of polyphenols. Their uncontrollable disposal causes intense phytotoxic phenomena in the growth of plants, contamination of water, degradation in the quality of drinking water, and death of fragile aquatic animal species.
The new product ‐ pellets from grape marc has a significant competitive advantage ‐ will be sold at a lower price in comparison to the wood pellets and will have a higher energy value.
Ambrozia-essential oils Ltd. has identified the need to put into operation the following equipment: - a line for processing the grape marc and a production line for pellets from grape mar. The company has applied an innovative methodology and technology for separation of grape seeds from grape skins, in which a specially made separator extracts 98-100% of the seeds. Up to 70% of the seeds are extracted from the existing grape marc processing plants. Dried flakes are used to produce energy from biomass. The produced pellets for combustion have a high energy value. This process of recirculation, crushing and separation of the seeds from the already crushed raisins continues continuously, which ensures almost 100% separation of the seeds from the marc. A fluidized bed dryer will be used in the production process which is a novelty on a national level. When drying with this type of dryer, the temperature of the material / grape marc / is less than 50 ° C and the drying is performed with indirectly heated air. Energy consumption is low - about 7500 kcal / kg. evaporated water. The dried flakes are fed to the production line for briquettes or pellets for combustion. The final products after the processing of 300 tons of grape marc are 100 tons. grape seeds and 145 tons of briquettes or pellets for heating.
With the investment in new technologies for processing grape-marc and production of pellets from grape-marc, the following green effects will be achieved :
-Processing and full utilization of 300 tons annually of grape marc ( waste from wine production)
- 25''000 tones savings in CO2 emissions until the end 2025 as a result of the utilisation of grape marc and therefore prevention of emissions as a result of aerobic biodegradation of grape marc and replacement of energy.
Summary of bilateral results
The project was implemented with the participation of a partner from the donor state - Norway. Høgskulen For GrønUtvikling - Stiftelse/University of green development which has an extensive experience in circular economy issues. The transfer of knowledge and know-how of the Norwegian partner - was very important for the project implementation. It has supported the development and testing of the new products, and to find solutions for extending products'' lifetime and re-use all materials without producing any waste.