Riihimäki Circular Economy Village of Ekokem – A concrete step to close the loop

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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.

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