Zilzie Wines

Zilzie Wines is a family owned, vertically integrated winery located in the Murray-Darling region of Victoria. Since commissioning its wine making facility in 2000, Zilzie Wines has expanded into a high-capacity production enterprise, processing approximately 60,000 tonnes of fruit per annum. Its wines have achieved both industry awards and commercial recognition and the company operates across contract processing, winemaking and storage services.

Winery wastewater typically carries 30 to 50 times the organic pollutant load of municipal sewage. During vintage, Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD₅) concentrations can reach 12,000 mg/L, while Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) may rise to as high as 30,000 mg/L. Expansion of Zilzie Wines’ production capacity had been constrained by limitations in wastewater management infrastructure.

In 2018, Factor UTB was engaged to design and construct a dedicated wastewater treatment system to enable winery expansion while supporting environmentally responsible irrigation of adjacent scrubland. The treatment facility was designed for a peak day flow capacity of 812 kL and a maximum COD removal capacity of 7,754 kg/day.

As part of the project, Factor UTB designed and constructed an off-grid solar and battery power system at the irrigation site, approximately 6 km from the winery. The installation is supplemented by a diesel generator to provide redundancy during periods of low solar radiation. Operation is controlled via an advanced management platform capable of optimising energy inputs through the coordinated blending of live solar generation, stored battery capacity and diesel generation, ensuring reliable power supply for irrigation demand. The irrigated land supports high value fodder production used in the raising of lamb and goats, which are supplied into the lucrative halal meat export market in the Middle East.