Characterization and recovery of tartaric acid from wastes of wine and grape juice industries

Tartaric acid is mainly used in food, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics industries. In this study, the waste samples, which contain tartaric acid, from the wastes of wine and grape juice industries were characterized by using TG, DSC, FTIR and XRD techniques. HPLC was used to determine tartaric acid content of samples. The decomposition temperatures of waste samples were found to be relatively higher compared with that of pure tartaric acid. This difference in decomposition temperatures was attributed to the presence of potassium tartrate since high potassium content was detected with ICP-AES.