The CSIC leads a project to develop ‘digital twins’ in the wine sector

València, April 6, 2022.- The Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA), a research center of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), leads the DTWINE2021 research project, an initiative which seeks to apply and consolidate digital twin technology in the wine sector with two specific objectives: to achieve more sustainable production and to respond to new trends in the consumption of wines with lower alcohol content and rich aromatic profiles. The project foresees the development of digital twins, advanced monitoring and the application of model predictive control algorithms to support winemakers in their work.

In addition to the IATA Yeast Systems Biology Group of Biotechnological Interest, led by the researcher Amparo Querol, Bodegas Ramón Bilbao, the Biosystems & Bioprocesses Engineering group at the Institute of Marine Research (IIM, CSIC) and the company Instalaciones y Control de Energia y Fluids (INCONEF).

A digital twin is a computer program that allows simulating and predicting the behavior of a real system and for this it uses mathematical models. In the wine sector, the digital twin will make it possible to simulate and predict the wine fermentation process. In addition, combined with sensors and computational optimization methods, it will facilitate the work of winemakers in making decisions in the daily operation of the wineries.

DTWINE Project

The DTWINE strategic lines research project aims to introduce and consolidate the use of digital twins in the wine sector. It has a budget of 1,001,848 euros and is financed by the State Research Agency (AEI), belonging to the Ministry of Science and Innovation, with Next Generation EU funds, within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. It is expected that their work will be carried out over a period of 36 months, between October 2021 and September 2024. The work will be carried out in four representative wine-producing areas of the Spanish wine-producing sector: Galicia, La Rioja, the Basque Country (Rioja Alavesa) and Valencian Community.

Objectives of the project

The multi and interdisciplinary approach proposed by DTWINE for the development of digital twins applied to wine fermentation is a great challenge and an ambitious proposal aimed at modernizing the way in which this process is carried out. In this way, the results of the project are expected to promote the renewal of the Spanish wine sector, the modernization of production systems, the protection of the environment and the improvement of product quality in the wineries.

DTWINE is entitled Digital Twins to Optimize Energy Efficiency and Product Quality in Wineries and plans to develop model-based predictive control and monitoring techniques to help winemakers do their jobs. Thus, the challenge posed by this project is twofold: achieving a more environmentally responsible production and simultaneously responding to new market trends with wines with à la carte characteristics (low alcohol content and highly aromatic wines).

In this line, the project has specific objectives such as exploring a set of indicators of industrial relevance to obtain more environmentally responsible wines; implement and validate a sensor network and model predictive control scheme to ensure optimal online performance; implement a tool, easy to use software, to support and automate the use of digital twins in decision making in warehouses and demonstrate the capabilities of digital twins to end users to facilitate their exploitation and possible marketing, among other purposes.

Note written by the Communication Unit of the CSIC Delegation in the Valencian Community. For more information: 

g.prensa@dicv.csic.es Phone: 963622757