Alice Feng
7th Grade, Granite Ridge Intermediate School
Fresno, CA
Transforming Waste Into Value: The Impact of Grape Pomace Variety and Extraction Parameters on Grape Seed Oil Yield and Physicochemical Properties
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Project Background
Alice is from California’s Central Valley, which is known for its agriculture. But farming generates a lot of waste, including things like grape pomace, which is the solid results left over after grapes are pressed for juice or wine. “I am also aware that local farms struggle with low profitability, particularly due to harsh climate, and I’ve often wondered how I could help local farmers,” Alice says. After she visited Spain and saw how olive oil was made, she wondered if the remains of grapes could be used to produce cold-pressed grapeseed oil for farmers to sell.
Tactics and Results
Alice was given the opportunity to collect the grape pomace from Fresno State Winery during the 2024 harvest season. She got at least 500 grams of seeds from 10 varieties of grape, both red and white. She took the seeds, cleaned them and dried them with a food dehydrator. She then collected oil from the different seeds using an oil press and calculated how much oil she could get per mass of seeds. Alice analyzed the oils with a spectrophotometer for color, smelled them for scent, and measured their density and viscosity. She determined that the best extraction conditions were at 49 degrees Celsius with six percent water content, and that Pinot Noir, Tempranillo, and Syrah grapes produced the highest amounts of quality oil. Alice hopes that her results could help farmers boost their incomes by allowing them to sell oils as well as wines.
Beyond the Project
Alice has participated in the FIRST LEGO League Challenge for two seasons, and her team won the California Central Valley regional championship. She plays both piano and violin and volunteers with her friends to perform music at various nursing homes. Alice also volunteers with “The Heart of Cubs,” which raises money for important causes, and helped to raise more than $6,000 for the Valley Children’s Hospital. She’d like to be a chemist. “When I was little, I read a storybook about Madame Marie Curie and was inspired by her life. Since then, I’ve dreamed of becoming someone like her.”
