Gasification and Combustion of Grape Marc: Comparison Among Different Scenarios L. Fiori • L. Florio Received: 1 March 2010 / Accepted: 31 May 2010 / Published online: 13 June 2010 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010 Abstract In this paper the attention is focused on the energetic exploitation of grape marc, the main biomass remaining from the vine-making process. Three different scenarios have been analyzed: a typical combustion pro- cess coupled with a steam cycle for cogeneration, an air gasification process and, finally, a steam gasification pro- cess with indirect heating. The syngas from gasification has been intended to fuel a gas turbine and its utilization in fuel cells has been considered as well. Considering the simu- lation results, it seems that the combustion process coupled with a steam cycle should be preferred to both air and steam gasification processes coupled with a gas turbine; this, in view of the greater simplicity of the combustion scheme. Differently, even if undoubtedly more complex, the steam gasification process coupled with fuel cells seems competitive with the combustion scheme. In fact, in this case, a noticeably larger electric efficiency corresponds to a greater process complexity. Keywords Industrial-waste reuse Á Air gasification Á Steam gasification Á Combustion Á Combined heat and power generation Introduction Every year the world wine industry processes about 35 million tons of grapes, with Italy and France as the main producers [1]. About 20% of the processed grapes remain as leftover from the vine-making: grape marc consisting of skins, seeds and stalks. Actually, the main portion of the stalks are removed before pressing the grape, while skins and seeds are removed just after pressing (in the white vinification) or after maceration (in the red vinification). A large portion of the grape marc produced in the wine- making process—referred to as ‘fresh grape marc’—is utilized by the distilling industry. After alcohol stripping, the grape marc is deprived of the impregnating alcohols and is referred to as ‘exhausted grape marc’. In Europe, in the past it was mandatory for the wine- making producers to provide the distilling industry with fresh grape marc. But this is not the case anymore. According to the Council Regulation (EC) No. 479/2008 and the Commission Regulation (EC) No. 555/2008 on the common organization of the market in wine, now the law allows the producers to be exempted from the requirement of distillation. Because of the above, people from academia and industry are looking for new opportunities for the exploi- tation of the fresh (and also exhausted) grape marc. The literature presents a fairly good number of studies relevant to grape marc exploitation. The majority analyses the extraction of valuable compounds (polyphenolic com- pounds and grape seed oil in primis [2–9] but also cellulose and hemicelluloses [10]), one analyses the composting [11], only a few deal with energy recovery [12–14]. As far as the latter are concerned, Encinar et al. [12, 13] studied the pyrolysis and gasification of grape bagasse under different experimental conditions with the aim of deter- mining the main characteristics of the charcoals formed and the nature and quantity of gases and liquids produced. Other waste-to-energy possibilities for industrial grape by-prod- ucts have been evaluated by Celma et al. [14]. In this paper we have analyzed the possible use of grape marc in order to obtain energy. With this new perspective L. Fiori (&) Á L. Florio University of Trento, DICA, Via Mesiano 77, 38123 Trento, Italy e-mail: luca.fiori@ing.unitn.it 123 Waste Biomass Valor (2010) 1:191–200 DOI 10.1007/s12649-010-9025-7