An experimental winery applies 'digital twins' to obtain more sustainable wines with lower alcohol content

VALENCIA, June 27 (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA) --Severo Ochoa center of excellence of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC)-- has inaugurated its "experimental winery" at its headquarters in Paterna (Valencia), a pilot plant where it will apply technology known as 'digital twins' to wine production.

This infrastructure has been developed within the framework of the DTWINE consortium, an R D project whose objective is to apply and consolidate this technology in the wine sector. In this way, this R D project aims to produce wines "This R D initiative aims to produce more sustainable wines, with lower alcohol content and rich aromatic profiles, reducing the energy consumption of fermentation."

A digital twin is a computer program that allows simulating and predicting the behavior of a real system using mathematical models. In the specific case of this project, the digital twin is expected to make it possible to simulate and predict the wine fermentation process and, ultimately, to facilitate the work of winemakers in daily decision-making in the wineries. Thus, the tests included in DTWINE are carried out on three scales: laboratory, pilot plant and real plant.

The presentation of this experimental winery corresponds to the pilot plant scale, in which the performance of the digital twin is tested and analyzed in a realistic configuration.

To develop the necessary experiments for the validation of the different possible realistic scenarios, a series of refrigerated stainless steel tanks (30 liters each) are used, as well as sensors installed in the tanks and the digital twin that allows monitoring the process. , make predictions and optimize in real time.

These experiments are carried out in the different possible conditions (optimal or with disturbances) that can occur in a winery, in order to evaluate and assess the benefits of applying digital twins in winemaking.

For the CSIC research professor who is leading the implementation of this facility at IATA, Amparo Querol Simón, "having an experimental winery will allow collaboration and help the industrial wine sector."

"The size of the fermenters can simulate the real conditions that occur in a winery, with which we can contribute to optimizing processes by reducing energy consumption or reducing untested waste in large volumes with the risk of significant economic losses. Thus fermentation conditions could be optimized to improve the quality of the wine, test different yeasts or additives in many grape varieties," he says.

DTWINE is a "strategic lines" research project that aims to apply and consolidate the revolutionary technology of digital twins in the wine sector. Specifically, this initiative foresees the development of digital twins, advanced monitoring and model predictive control algorithms to support winemakers in their work. In this way, two key objectives are pursued: achieving a more sustainable production and responding to new trends in the consumption of wines with lower alcohol content and rich aromatic profiles.

"The DTWINE project will allow us to put the wine sector at the forefront in the use of digital technologies through the application of digital twins, techniques little implemented in the food and beverage manufacturing sector", summarizes Querol.

DTWINE has a budget of one million euros and is financed by the State Research Agency (AEI), of the Ministry of Science and Innovation, with Next Generation EU funds within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. Its work is expected to be carried out over a period of 36 months, between October 2021 and September 2024. It will be carried out in four highly representative wine-growing areas of the Spanish wine-growing sector: Galicia, La Rioja, the Basque Country (Rioja Alavesa) and the Comunitat Valencian.

The Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA-CSIC) is leading this project, with the participation of the Biosystems and Bioprocess Engineering Group of the Marine Research Institute (IIM-CSIC) of Vigo, the Bodega Ramón Bilbao from La Rioja and the SME from Álava Facility and Control of Energy and Fluids (Inconef).

The initiative started in 2021 with the aim of achieving more sustainable winemaking and the production of wines with lower alcohol content and aromatic profiles closer to current consumer demand, thanks to the application of digital twin technology. Digitization in this case will also allow reducing the energy consumption of wineries in the alcoholic fermentation processes of wines.