Ravinteet kiertoon – vesistöt kuntoon | Kiertotalouden kärkihankkeen lähtölaukaus | Recycle nutrients for clear waters | Forum for Action 19.– 20.4.2016

1. © Luonnonvarakeskus© Luonnonvarakeskus
Recycle nutrients for clear waters
Markku Järvenpää
Director, Management and Production of Renewable Resources
Luke - Natural Resources Institute Finland
Markku.jarvenpaa@luke.fi
20.4.2016
PUTTING NUTRIENT
RECYCLING INTO PRACTICE
20.4.20161

2. © Natural Resources Institute Finland
Luke –
Natural Resources Institute Finland
We concentrate on renewable
natural resources RTDI:
Biomass-based products and energy
Food system and food security
Health and well-being
Sustainable natural resources economy
and policy
© Natural Resources Institute Finland

3. © Luonnonvarakeskus
Luke in brief
Combined resources 2015:
• Turnover 125 M€
• Personnel 1500
• Locations 35
• Headquarters in Helsinki
• Other head offices Joensuu,
Jokioinen and Oulu.
• We operate in various parts
of the country taking
advantage of cooperation
opportunities with
universities and other
research institutions.

4. © Luonnonvarakeskus
Organic wastes and by-products in
the Finnish food chain
4 20.4.2016
Total 27 million t/a
Manure
Grass
Straw
Vegetable waste
Biowaste
Sewage sludge
Other food industry
by-products
Fresh tons – watery!
Variable nutrient and energy
contents

5. © Luonnonvarakeskus
Recyclable nutrient resources from different raw
materials in Finland
Anon 2011. Suomesta ravinteiden kierrätyksen mallimaa
Raw materials P N
Manure 72 % 78 %
Biowaste and side products
from food and feed industry
14 % 14 %
Municipal biowaste 3 % 5 %
Municipal sludge 12 % 4 %
Total 100 % 100 %
Total, t/a 24 100 128 100
5 20.4.2016

6. © Luonnonvarakeskus
Why is this a problem?
6 20.4.2016
Ylivainio et al. 2014 MTT Report 124, modified
• Example: manure
– Approx. 18 million m3 (2014;
Luke & SYKE)
– 74% from cattle, 15% from
pigs, 2% from poultry
– Regionally concentrated into
areas with high P values in
field soils

7. © Luonnonvarakeskus
Recommendations of Baltic Manure project
7 20.4.2016
Manure Facts
In the Baltic Sea Region, there is approximately 187 million tons of cattle, pig and poultry manure
produced each year. Most of it can be found in Poland, Denmark and the northern German states with
coastline to the Baltic Sea. The Russian manure production is significant, but was not included in this
project.
The highest share of slurry, 80%, is in Denmark, while in Poland 90-95% of all manure is solid. Overall
nearly 50% of the manure in the BSR is solid.
Tybirk, K. and Luostarinen, S. (eds.)
2013. Sustainable manure
management in the Baltic Sea
Region. www.balticmanure.eu

8. © Luonnonvarakeskus
The same problem in most parts of Europe
8 20.4.2016
• Recyclable nutrients concentrated into certain regions with
nutrient surplus
• Transportation to areas needing the nutrients too expensive
and/or the nutrient-rich waste and by-products in a form
which cannot be directly reused
• Need to refine the biomasses into new products which are
– Meeting the needs of the end-users
– Transportable
– Safe, high quality
– Easy to use
– Economically and environmentally sound

9. © Luonnonvarakeskus
How to make nutrient recycling happen?
• Resource efficiency and minimisation of losses in all actions
along the production and refining chains
– Saving fossil resources
– Minimisation of emissions and losses
• Use for all wastes and by-products
– Refining into new products which make use of their energy
and nutrient content
– Creates new business
• Optimisation of the entire
production chains
9 20.4.2016
Photos: Sari Luostarinen / Luke

10. © Luonnonvarakeskus
Solutions via small-scale and/or industrial
symbiosis
• New types of cooperation between different actors
• Someone’s waste is someone else’s resource
• Can be achieved in smaller and larger scale
• Creates new business opportunities
• Waste hierarchy to be taken into account
– Minimisation of wastes and by-products
– Utilisation of wastes and by-products as resouces /
materials
– Utilisation as energy
– Safe disposal
10 20.4.2016

11. © Luonnonvarakeskus
Luke Vision: Sustainable material cycle in Food
System creates new business opportunities -
From the Food Chain into Biomass Cycles
AGRICULTURE
AND
SILVICULTURE
PRODUCTION
FURTHER
PROCESSING
DISTRIBUTION
USE
DISPOSAL
UTILISATION RECYCLING
PROCESSING OF
SECONDARY FLOWS
TO SALES
TO OWN PROCESS
SECONDARY FRACTIONS,
WASTE FLOWINPUT-
PRODUCTION
11
RENEWABLE ENERGY
PLANT NUTRIENTS
GREEN CHEMICALS
Energy and material cycles in agri-food sector as
enablers of business and green economy

12. © Luonnonvarakeskus
Example: biogas technology
• Biogas technology enables recycling most of
organic wastes and by-products (excluding
wood materials)
• A closed, controlled technology to degrade the
biomasses into two products: 1) renewable
energy and 2) nutrient-rich digestate
• Biogas usable as heat, CHP, vehicle fuel (gas or
liquid)
• Digestate refinable into various nutrient and
other value-added products
– In large scale – processing and
productization needed!
12 20.4.2016
Photo: Sari Luostarinen / Luke

13. © Luonnonvarakeskus 19.4.2016© Maa- ja elintarviketalouden tutkimuskeskus 13
Example: separation technology
Fractions for Water, N and P (advantage: no odour)
Joint development Luke – Pellon company

14. © Luonnonvarakeskus
Example of benefit from fractions – 10 000 pork
production unit manure logistics challenge
- Fractions enable rational use of nutrients -
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Manure Volume
m3
N
kg
P
kg
Field
area
need, ha
Applicati
on,
m3/ha
Applicati
on
criterium
Raw
sludge
20 000 74 000 22 000 1467 14 P 15
kg/ha
Liquid
fraction
17 505 31 510 1 751 185 94 N 170
kg/ha
Solid
fraction
2494 21 450 19 705 182 14 P 36 +
tasaus

15. © Luonnonvarakeskus
Development needs in nutrient recycling
• Techonologies are available: Different solutions available and under development
– The entire management chains need to be optimised, incl.
• Processing – Logistics - Storage
• Feasibility of and instructions for end-product use
• Public-private RTD-cooperation
• Pioneer companies lack resources, know-how and even acceptability (regulatory
framework – case food safety agency)
– Calls for smart business development
– Calls for capital
– Place for new innovative firms
• Productization: Acceptance of recycled nutrients (by farmers; by consumers)
– Safety and sustainability (consumer and farmer)
– Economy and usability (farmer)
– Image and reputation
• Incentives needed: Market not yet there
– Support investing
– Support use
– Release regulatory barriers
15 20.4.2016

16. © Luonnonvarakeskus16 20.4.2016