Processing pomace from grape crush to harvest grape seeds

A system for separating seed from wet material, comprising:

• a debearder comprising a plurality of rotating beater arms disposed among a plurality of stationary arms, the debearder configured to aerate raw, wet material comprising seed by rotational movement of the rotating beater arms to produce an aerated material, the aerated material comprising pomace that is of at least one of an approximately similar size, shape, and weight as the seed;
• and
• an aspirator an aspiration chamber, an inlet configured to supply the aerated material to the aspiration chamber, a feed roll to meter an amount of the aerated material entering the aspirator, an air inlet configured to supply an air flow to the aspiration chamber, a seed outlet at a base of the aspiration chamber configured to expel seed permitted to fall to the base of the aspiration chamber, a liftings chamber configured to receive liftings carried upwards towards the liftings chamber from the aspiration chamber, a liftings conveyor, at least one liftings outlet, and a damper configured to control a velocity of air moving through the aspirator, the aspirator being thereby configured to separate the seed from the pomace that is of at least one of an approximately similar size, shape, and weight as the seed by separating the aerated material into component elements of the seed and liftings by density upon exposure to the air flow in the aspiration chamber and to output the seed separated from the aerated material from the seed outlet.

A method of separating grape seed from wet pomace, comprising:

• aerating the wet pomace with a debearder to produce an aerated pomace, the debearder comprising a plurality of rotating beater arms disposed among a plurality of stationary arms, the debearder configured to aerate raw, wet material comprising the wet pomace and grape seed by rotational movement of the rotating beater arms to produce the aerated pomace, the aerated material comprising pomace that is of at least one of an approximately similar size, shape, and weight as the grape seed;
• aspirating the aerated pomace with an aspirator to separate component elements of the aerated pomace by density, one of the component elements being the grape seed, the aspirator comprising an aspiration chamber, an inlet configured to supply the aerated material to the aspiration chamber, a feed roll to meter an amount of the aerated material entering the aspirator, an air inlet configured to supply an air flow to the aspiration chamber, a seed outlet at a base of the aspiration chamber configured to expel seed permitted to fall to the base of the aspiration chamber, a liftings chamber configured to receive liftings carried upwards towards the liftings chamber from the aspiration chamber, a liftings conveyor, at least one liftings outlet, and a damper configured to control a velocity of air moving through the aspirator, the aspirator being thereby configured to separate the seed from the pomace that is of at least one of an approximately similar size, shape, and weight as the seed by separating the aerated material into the component elements of the seed and liftings by density upon exposure to the air flow in the aspiration chamber and to output the seed separated from the aerated material from the seed outlet;
• and
• collecting separated grape seed from the aspirator.