Biovalorization of winery industry waste to produce value-added products

Abstract

Wine is consumed globally as an alcoholic beverage with an increasing demand that has reached 243 million hectoliters. According to the existing statistics, as much as 5 tons of solid waste is produced per hectare per year during the process of cultivation and harvesting of grapes. Wineries across the world generate large volumes of waste and other by-products, these include grape stalks, pomace/marc, and wine lees. This waste needs to be biovalorized and treated before its disposal into landfills and wastewater streams to ensure minimum environmental damage. Winery waste is highly rich in lignocellulosic compounds and thus serves as a promising feedstock for the production of renewable energy. This waste contains bioactive compounds like phenolics, flavonoids, tannins, coumarins, and antioxidants having numerous health benefits and can be used as additives for food and cosmetic products. Biovalorization of winery waste proves to be an innovative strategy to reuse, recycle, and recover potentially useful residues from this waste and will reduce the dependence of the current manufacturing industries on the starting raw materials. Microorganisms produce industrially important organic acids like tartaric acid, lactic acid, and enzymes by the fermentation of the sugars present in the winery waste. There is a necessity to exploit the potential of microorganisms for the production of commercially important compounds and implement efficient extraction techniques like pulsed electric field, supercritical fluid extraction, and high voltage electric discharge for their high recoveries. Thermal conversion of this biomass is both economically and energetically expensive; biochemical procedures have great potential to convert winery waste into high-value products. This chapter focuses on the minimization of environmental hazards of winery waste by its efficient utilization for the production of phytochemicals and potential biofuels through biovalorization. © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.