Hill-Smith Family Estate

Capturing carbon from wine fermentation to reduce industry emissions

In a national first, Hill-Smith Family Estates (HSFE), a sixth-generation Australian wine company based in Angaston, partnered with the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) with funding from Wine Australia to trial carbon dioxide capture during wine fermentation. The initiative trialled the viability of capturing carbon dioxide from wine fermentations that can be compressed, stored, and utilised in winery operations throughout the year. 

While the technology proved effective, seasonal storage remains a challenge. Capturing carbon dioxide (CO₂) from 10,000 tonnes of grapes could offset 790 tonnes of purchased CO₂ - pending purification for reuse. 

The solution had to consider:

• Practicality of equipment - easy to install and remove as required.
• Have minimal impact on existing cellar operations.
• Minimal infrastructure and install costs ensuring accessibility for wineries of all sizes and locations.
• The annual harvest and processing nature of wine, CO₂ can only be captured during the ~12-week vintage period, requiring significant space and monetary investment for CO₂ liquid storage infrastructure. 

Process:

In 2024, HSFE performed trials at their Oxford Landing Winery in the Barossa on both white and red ferments to test the concept and equipment. Based on the trials, AWRI and HSFE reviewed the design of their tank lids and engineered a custom cover optimised for carbon capture, ready in time for the year two trials. 

Ahead of vintage 2025, tanks were fitted with custom lids to extract CO₂ during fermentation and utilised the tank pressure to feed into and capture within a balloon-like bladder. From the bladder, CO₂ was converted to liquid via a compressor and transferred into a cylinder for storage.

Outcomes:

The project proved the equipment trialled was effective for capturing the CO₂ produced by wine ferments and avoiding emission into the atmosphere. The equipment is accessible - more so if the equipment can be leased to wineries over the harvest period. Due to the seasonality of wine production, a viable solution for storage is still required for the wine industry, where CO₂ capture would require either bulk liquid storage facilities onsite (enough for annual production and use) or a purchase agreement with CO₂ suppliers to collect, store and distribute. 

Based on HSFE's 2025 trial, if they captured the fermentation CO₂ from 10,000 tonnes of grapes, this would offset their annual consumption of 790 tonnes of purchased CO₂. However, gas produced would require additional purification to meet beverage standards.

Further investigation is needed into more economical, novel non-liquid CO₂ storage to abate some, but not all, of their purchased CO₂.

Please note that the information provided has been submitted by the organisation and has not been independently verified.