Gasum biogas plants in Nordics

Biolan, Gasum and Pöytyän Maanparannus joined forces at the beginning of August in the joint venture Kiertoravinne Oy. Kiertoravinne, which focuses on recycled nutrients, was originally established by Biolan in 2021. Its ownership base grew at the beginning of August and the company is now owned by Biolan, its subsidiary Novarbo Oy, Gasum Oy and Pöytyän Maanparannus Oy.

Kiertoravinne Oy continues Gasum’s work with nutrients by developing nutrients, fertilizers, additives and soil conditioners suitable for agricultural and industrial use from biogas plant and industrial side streams. Besides this, Kiertoravinne’s offering includes Arvo fertilizers and Arvo composts, both made by Biolan, for crop farming, and Pöytyän Maanparannus liming material for arable use.

“There are still quite few recycled nutrient companies operating in Finland. Combining the expertise of Gasum, Biolan and Pöytyän Maanparannus allows us to create a package serving agriculture and industry nationwide that is able to meet large-scale demand,” says Ari Suomilammi, Head of Production at Gasum.

During its first year of operations, Kiertoravinne will deliver around 250,000 tonnes of digestate and recycled nutrients a year from Gasum’s biogas plants. This accounts for around half of Gasum’s total production in Finland. In addition, there are plans to transfer all the nutrient production from Gasum’s biogas plants in Finland for the use of Kiertoravinne after a transition period lasting more than a year.

Growing demand for recycled nutrients and fertilizers

Demand for recycled nutrients has shown clear growth over the past few years. This is attributable to their good availability and their price level compared to the other most widely used mineral fertilizers. The war in Ukraine has seriously affected the manufacture and import of mineral fertilizers. Recycled nutrients are also a competitive and eco-friendly alternative to traditional fertilizers.

“Biolan has used recycled raw materials throughout its history and the establishment of Kiertoravinne Oy is a natural continuum of this. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has weakened the availability of crop fertilizers and together with Kiertoravinne Oy’s shareholders, we want to improve security of supply and add to the Finnish circular economy,” says Biolan’s Managing Director Teppo Rantanen.

“Pöytyän Maanparannus Oy’s key approach is to improve the soil health of arable land holistically, taking into account environmental aspects. Kiertoravinne Oy enables development work on new products in a sustainable way, saving the environment. Working with strong, large actors means we have the possibility to reach this goal. Kiertoravinne Oy has been established for the benefit of Finnish agriculture and the environment,” says Pöytyän Maanparannus Oy’s Managing Director Turkka Salmi.

Each of owner companies has a place on Kiertoravinne Oy’s Board of Directors. Kaisa Vuorinen, who earlier worked with recycled nutrients at Gasum, will take up the post as the company’s product manager in October 2022.

Gasum commits to receive ship-generated wastewater and biowaste as a feedstock for biogas. Biogas is a renewable, low-emission fuel that is also suitable when liquefied for use in maritime transport. Besides biogas, the process produces recycled nutrients that can replace synthetic and virgin nutrient products in agriculture and industry. Both the production of biogas and the recovery and commercialization of nutrients support security of supply and reduce dependence on imported raw materials. Besides this, Gasum commits to influence within its own industry in the role of partner to strengthen the circular economy with regard to ship-generated wastes.

”Gasum is a Nordic energy company and a strong circular economy actor. For us, the Ship Waste Action is a great opportunity to promote circular economy solutions and to work for the good of the Baltic Sea. Cooperation with other actors is important to discharge ship-generated waste into a port from where it can be recovered for use. Besides renewable energy production, we want to promote the agricultural use of recycled nutrients created in the biogas process. We are using carbon footprints to assess the climate impacts of nutrient products in the project,” says Elina Saarivuori, Sustainability Manager, Gasum.

“Whereas our priority is to get wastewaters generated by cargo ships discharged on land instead of into the Baltic Sea, that is just the first step. Since the very beginning of the Ship Waste Action, it has been important to us to find a use for wastewaters in the circular economy. Producing biogas from wastewaters is an excellent solution as far as the Baltic Sea is concerned,” commends Elisa Mikkolainen, Project Director at Baltic Sea Action Group.

Ship Waste Action is cooperation where cargo ship sewage is used for circular economy purposes. Other partners in the project besides Gasum are the Port of HaminaKotka, Kymen Vesi wastewater treatment plant, Autoyhtymä Vuorinen, shipping companies Meriaura and RABN, Essberger & Stolt Tankers, Utkilen and Maersk, as well as shipbrokers C&C Port Agency, Dahlberg’s Agency and GAC Finland. Operations are currently on going in Rauma port and being expanded to other ports also.

Read more about Gasum's commitment >

Sustainability is an integral part of Gasum’s strategy to promote development towards a carbon-neutral future in industry as well as in road and maritime transport. Gasum’s responsibility work is steered by the company’s Corporate Responsibility Program and targets, which cover environmental responsibility, social responsibility, responsible business and governance.

Gasum is committed to operating sustainably by increasing the availability of low-carbon energy and promoting the circular economy. We make it possible for our customers to reduce emissions, we operate energy efficiently and minimize the environmental impacts of our own operations. We promote safe and secure working environments for our employees and partners and ensure responsible business practices.

Highlights in 2021:

• We promoted climate work by enabling 345,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission reductions for our customers through biogas
• We promoted the circular economy by utilizing 880,000 tonnes of waste and waste food as well as 4,000,000 tonnes of wastewater as feedstock in biogas production
• We produced around 1,000,000 tonnes of recycled nutrients
• Our energy consumption was down 3.5% compared to the previous year. We missed our zero accident target, but our total recordable injury frequency (TRIF) was down 3.7% compared to a year earlier
• We expanded our biogas production capacity by 25% year on year
• Energy delivery volumes were up in all our business areas – industry, and maritime and road transport

”Responsibility is part of our daily decision-making. We aim for a cumulative carbon emission reduction of a million tonnes with the help of biogas. We intend to bring 4 TWh of biogas to market from our own production and that of our certified partners by 2025. The cleaner energy and recycled fertilizers we offer are of importance in the sustainability work of our customers. We reached our targets in 2021 despite the challenging operating environment. We also support the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and work to promote them,” says Elina Saarivuori, Sustainability Manager, Gasum.

Download our reports:

• Gasum Responsibility Highlights
• Gasum Corporate Responsibility Report