Riihimäki Circular Economy Village of Ekokem – A concrete step to close the loop
The circular economy represents an opportunity
to reduce waste and protect the environment through a profound transformation
of the way our economy works. Rethinking our system, we will be able to boost
competitiveness, create jobs and generate sustainable growth. Among the key
points to close the loop of product lifecycles are recycling and re-use. Ekokem is a Nordic company specialised in those
fields that provides comprehensive environmental management services. It serves
both industrial and municipal customers from its facilities in Finland, Sweden
and Denmark. It has been recently acquired by Fortum
(see press
release).
One specific project of Ekokem has drawn the
attention of the blog. It is the Circular Economy Village which has built in
Riihimäki (Finland), 90 km north from Helsinki. Its official opening was held early
this week (see press
release). In the complex, materials included in the municipal waste stream
will be processed in three facilities: the EcoRefinery (automated sorting
plant), the Plastic Refinery (recycled plastic plant) and the BioRefinery (biogas
plant). Waste unsuitable for recycling will be used to generate district heat
and electricity in Ekokem’s Waste to Energy plants in Riihimäki. As an
investment, the Circular Economy Village is worth 50 million euros and it is a source
of employment for the area (120–160 full-time equivalents of employment during
the construction phase and, once completed, 20–30 employees).
Figure 1. The concept of the Circular Economy
Village of Ekokem (extracted from Ekokem web page)
Below, a brief summary of the main
characteristics of the three facilities conforming the complex.
The EcoRefinery
It will take municipal waste and separate about
37% of biowaste, 10% of plastic and 3% of metal from it. In the Circular
Economy Village, the recycling rate of municipal waste will rise to 50% and the
recovery rate to 98%. 100,000 tons of municipal waste will be treated at the
plant each year. There are reception lines for household and commercial
biowaste and sludge.
The BioRefinery
It is a plant that will use biowaste to produce
biogas for transport purposes. Also it will be able to recover nutrients, such
as nitrogen. With a full processing capacity of 75,000 ton/y, it is the biggest
biogas plant that Watrec. (Finnish
company specialized in Waste to Energy technology and consultancy services for
environmental and energy) has designed and built. The facility stands out for
its ability to treat mechanically separated organic fraction of municipal solid
waste (OFMSW) alongside biowaste and sludge. First loads of waste have been
received at site by the end of last May and the plant’s startup phase will
start early this summer.
Biotehdas (owner of a network of five biogas plants in Finland) will be responsible for
gas production, while the upgrading and network injection will be carried out
by Gasum (natural gas company). In addition
to the upgrading facility, Gasum is on charge of the construction of a gas
network connection on the site as well as a gas pipeline section that will be
around 10 km long. Once upgraded, the properties of biogas correspond fully to
those of natural gas.
The Plastic Refinery
It will process not only plastics separated from
municipal waste but also separately collected household plastic packaging. At
the refinery, the plastics will be separated, crushed, washed and granulated.
The plastics will be redirected back to the industry as raw material to replace
virgin raw materials. Recycling plastic takes only about 15% of the energy that
is required to make plastic.
