The construction of the circular economy park is underway

With funding granted from the Ministry of the Environment’s nutrient recycling program, the circular economy park of Pyhäntä municipality and Latvaenergia Oy has progressed to the construction phase, where Demeca will deliver the biogas plant complex. The project implements a comprehensive solution where a new pre-treatment plant is built for food industry wastewater, and the treatment sludge is directed to the biogas plant being implemented in the project, which also processes other food industry side streams and agricultural biomass.

Photo: Project participants from Latvaenergia and Demeca rejoice at the start of construction work (from left: Sami Pellikka, Pekka Vinkki, Pekka Kemppainen, Sami Vinkki)

 

With funding granted from the Ministry of the Environment’s nutrient recycling program, the circular economy park of Pyhäntä municipality and Latvaenergia Oy has progressed to the construction phase, where Demeca will deliver the biogas plant complex. The project implements a comprehensive solution where a new pre-treatment plant is built for food industry wastewater, and the treatment sludge is directed to the biogas plant being implemented in the project, which also processes other food industry side streams and agricultural biomass.

 

”Pyhäntä municipality’s strategy is to take care of people, businesses, the environment, and reputation. Our key goal in the municipality is to promote renewable energy and circular economy. Pyhäntä has strong food industry with Feelia Oy, Suomen Oikia Oy, and Maustaja Oy, and these companies have a strong growth strategy. Currently, the food industry’s side streams are sent to the central treatment plant in Rantsila for purification, and the capacity at the treatment plant is limited, so we started looking for a solution for the side streams to utilize energy and nutrients. Pyhäntä municipality and Latvaenergia began discussions about building a circular economy park, and we started applying for a joint project from the Ministry of the Environment. An application for the joint project was sent in December 2022, and the project was granted funding in June 2023. Now the project has finally progressed to the construction phase. The grant criteria included the utilization of energy and nutrients. Pyhäntä municipality is responsible for the wastewater pre-treatment plant of the project, and Latvaenergia for the biogas plant complex. The total cost estimate for the project is about 8.5 million euros. We received help from Hiilikierto Oy’s experts in preparing the application. Pyhäntä municipality has Finland’s largest wind farm, and we are pioneers in developing the circular economy. The project enables strong growth in the food industry, which has positive employment effects. The project also has an impact on neighboring municipalities, so the project’s impact is extensive in Pyhäntä municipality and the surrounding area. The project’s carbon handprint is significant,” says Samuli Yrjänä, the new mayor of Pyhäntä.

Photo: Pyhäntä’s mayor Samuli Yrjänä spoke at the press conference about the project’s early stages and the municipality’s needs for wastewater treatment and nutrient recycling (from left: Pekka Kemppainen, Samuli Yrjänä)

 

”Latvaenergia Oy is a pioneer in Finnish energy production, as we have long strived for environmentally friendly and responsible operations. We currently use mainly locally grown renewable wood as fuel. In line with our strategy, we have started to diversify the production of renewable local energy from wood to biogas, and our goal is to be a strong circular economy operator from Pyhäntä in the future. We want to be involved in the changing operating environment and support our customers’ needs and sustainability goals. The biogas plant is a big project for Latvaenergia, which has now progressed as planned to earthworks and plant area construction with the selection of the plant supplier. At the same time, we are deepening our previously started cooperation with agricultural operators and the food industry. Functional circular economy solutions benefit all parties, and we are starting to develop these in cooperation with other parties,” comments Pekka Kemppainen, CEO of Latvaenergia.

Photo: Sami Pellikka from Latvaenergia shows the progress of the construction site to other project participants (from left: Sami Vinkki, Ilkka Kovalainen, Pekka Kemppainen, Pekka Vinkki, and Sami Pellikka)

 

The construction of the plant complex has begun, and Demeca Oy has been selected as the equipment supplier.

 

Demeca delivers the biogas plant complex to be built in the circular economy park as a turnkey project. The biogas plant produces energy from local food industry side streams as well as agricultural field biomass and liquid manure. Initially, the plant complex processes about 13,000 tons of feedstock and produces about 550,000 Nm3 of biomethane annually, which corresponds to about 5.5 GWh of energy. In the short term, the feedstock amount will increase to 20,000 tons, and energy production to over 8 GWh. The environmental permit allows a maximum of 20,000 tons of feedstock. Additionally, the plant produces 13,000-20,000 tons of digestate annually, which can be utilized as recycled nutrients in local agriculture. Liquid feedstocks arriving at the plant area are stored in covered reception tanks, field biomass in covered bunker silos, and food feedstocks in a closed storage hall built for them. Liquid feedstocks are fed through a closed piping system, and dry feedstocks are loaded with a loader into the gFeed dry feeding unit to the digestion reactors. The biogas plant with two gReactor 2000 digestion reactors produces raw biogas, which is directed to gFilter pre-treatment and stored in a low-pressure storage. Biogas is refined into biomethane in the gFuel refining unit, from which biomethane is directed via a gas transfer pipeline to be utilized in Pyhäntä’s food industry. The biogas plant can also produce electricity and heat (CHP) with the gPower unit. The digestate is hygienized in the gHygie unit and separated into dry and liquid fractions by separation. The digestate fractions are stored in dedicated closed/covered storages. Necessary maintenance and machine shelter spaces will be built in the plant area to serve the needs of the plant operator. Special attention has been paid to the plant’s operation and maintenance, as well as environmental impacts and prevention of odor nuisances in the plant design. The plant does not produce noise to the surrounding environment of the plant area.

 

” We thank Latvaenergia for their trust and are eager to start the work. We are very pleased that our long development work in biogas system productization can now serve the needs of Latvaenergia’s medium-sized biogas plant. Demeca’s energy-efficient, productized solutions and long experience in the biogas industry offer the client the best prerequisites for success in the project,” rejoices Sami Vinkki, Sales Director of Demeca.

Photo: Illustration of the Pyhäntä circular economy park’s plant complex

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