New factory to produce tonnes of ethanol from waste
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At the offices of the energy company St1 in Pitäjänmäki in Helsinki, Risto Savolainen and Mika Jokinen are busy planning a new production system for ethanol. Under the scheme, a plant will accept waste products for a fee, and measures are to be taken to minimise transport costs. The end result is to be valuable ethanol suitable for use as a fuel for cars.
The goals are dazzlingly ambitious. Finland is an experimental laboratory, where the model is being introduced.
The core of the St1 production system for ethanol is a plant that is being built in Hamina, which opens in March, where ethanol at a concentration of 85 per cent is to be concentrated further to nearly 100 per cent purity.
The location of the plant in the harbour of Hamina means that the end product can be easily transported by ship to the Neste oil refinery in Porvoo, where it can be blended into motor petrol.
The 85 per cent ethanol processed by the Hamina concentration plant is to come from a number of small etanolix plants scattered around the country. In addition, ethanol can be shipped to the Hamina Harbour from all over the world: some has already been brought to Hamina from Brazil for storage.
Mika Jokinen, who is responsible for acquisition and logistics, says that it is likely that by next summer Finnish filling stations will already be tanking petrol containing ethanol that has been concentrated at the Hamina plant.
About 20 small etanolix stations are to be set up in different parts of Finland, but so far, only one of them is operational in Lappeenranta.
The plant accepts waste from three bakeries and one sweets factory. Not all of the material is suitable for ethanol production; some is turned into feed for pigs instead.
Similar miniature factories are going up in Närpiö and in Hamina. In addition to ethanol and animal feed, the small plants can also produce fertiliser.
The large Hamina plant, which is to start operations next month, has an annual output capacity of 44 million litres, which corresponds to about two per cent of Finland's annual consumption of petrol. The capacity is to be doubled in a year's time.
St1 sees this as just the beginning.
"We want to become a global operator. This is a great possibility for us on a business level", says sales chief Risto Savolainen.
"We plan to set up 15 to 20 small plants in Sweden in a couple of years. We are looking for cooperative partners both in Europe and in Asia."
"We are also expanding to new raw materials. Next we hope to start using bio-waste collected from households."
The plans also include producing ethanol from materials such as straw and paper.
The goals are dazzlingly ambitious. Finland is an experimental laboratory, where the model is being introduced.
The core of the St1 production system for ethanol is a plant that is being built in Hamina, which opens in March, where ethanol at a concentration of 85 per cent is to be concentrated further to nearly 100 per cent purity.
The location of the plant in the harbour of Hamina means that the end product can be easily transported by ship to the Neste oil refinery in Porvoo, where it can be blended into motor petrol.
The 85 per cent ethanol processed by the Hamina concentration plant is to come from a number of small etanolix plants scattered around the country. In addition, ethanol can be shipped to the Hamina Harbour from all over the world: some has already been brought to Hamina from Brazil for storage.
Mika Jokinen, who is responsible for acquisition and logistics, says that it is likely that by next summer Finnish filling stations will already be tanking petrol containing ethanol that has been concentrated at the Hamina plant.
About 20 small etanolix stations are to be set up in different parts of Finland, but so far, only one of them is operational in Lappeenranta.
The plant accepts waste from three bakeries and one sweets factory. Not all of the material is suitable for ethanol production; some is turned into feed for pigs instead.
Similar miniature factories are going up in Närpiö and in Hamina. In addition to ethanol and animal feed, the small plants can also produce fertiliser.
The large Hamina plant, which is to start operations next month, has an annual output capacity of 44 million litres, which corresponds to about two per cent of Finland's annual consumption of petrol. The capacity is to be doubled in a year's time.
St1 sees this as just the beginning.
"We want to become a global operator. This is a great possibility for us on a business level", says sales chief Risto Savolainen.
"We plan to set up 15 to 20 small plants in Sweden in a couple of years. We are looking for cooperative partners both in Europe and in Asia."
"We are also expanding to new raw materials. Next we hope to start using bio-waste collected from households."
The plans also include producing ethanol from materials such as straw and paper.
Helsingin Sanomat