POTENTIALS OF GRAPE POMACE FOR COMPOST PRODUCTION ON THE TERRITORY OF THE THREE MORAVA REGION: A CASE STUDY

Abstract

Stems, skins, seeds, and pulp are grape pomace (GP) components formed as by-products during wine production. The GP share represents about 25% of the total amount of processed grapes, which is a significant amount of organic waste (OW) that can be treated in the composting process. The purpose of the paper is to consider the possibility of their use by presenting the basic characteristics and potentials of GP and other available fractions of OW of agricultural origin. First, based on the representation of vineyards by regions on the territory of the Republic of Serbia and locally available substrates, and using a previously developed mathematical model, the quantities of observed fractions and composts were calculated. After applying the mathematical model to the cities belonging to the Three Morava Region, it was discovered that the optimal mixture contains 40% of GP when the co-substrates are wheat straw (WS) and swine manure (SM). Next, using the mean values of the percentage of co-substrates and GP, the model was applied to the territory of the Republic of Serbia. The results showed sufficient quantities of all substrates and the model criteria were satisfied.