Spain. A pilot project that seeks to reduce water consumption and waste generation in cooperative wineries in the region, was launched by the entity called Agro-food Cooperatives of Navarra, co-financed by the EU and the Government of Navarra.
The wineries Malón de Echaide, Dominio Lasierpe and Quaderna Vía will experiment with a novel cleaning system based on the use of nanotechnology, to try to reduce the costs and waste generated and achieve, in short, a more sustainable management. The initiative is still a pilot project, with the aim of generalizing it if the results are as expected.
This new system, developed together with the Lurederra technology center, consists of the application of a coating with "non-stick, anti-corrosive and easy-to-clean" properties to both the metal and porous surfaces of the warehouses. In this sense, it can be used both in machinery, as well as in infrastructures and equipment. Where and how to apply it will be decided individually in each winery. To do this, a "personalized protocol" will be carried out based on the specific requirements and needs of each winery.
The project envisages, in this way, to help the wineries in the laborious and expensive cleaning work. Not in vain, these must comply with demanding cleaning measures that lead to a very high consumption of water to carry them out, with the consequent generation of wastewater, which must be purified. The thoroughness of the work requires a great dedication of the staff, both in time and in physical effort, "because most of these tasks are carried out manually", explain from Agro-food Cooperatives of Navarra.
Therefore, with the project a significant reduction in costs will be achieved. But also, the periodicity of the cleaning work. To these two purposes, the optimization of energy and water consumed, as well as wastewater generated and chemical agents used, is added.
The project is co-financed by the European Union, through the EAFRD funds, and by the Government of Navarre, at a rate of 65% and 35% respectively.
Source: Agro-food Cooperatives of Navarre.
