UPM-Biofore-Magazine-1-2017-ENG

Raimo Kauppila, Katja Viitikko, Markus Schortemeyer, Leena Kunnas and Mogens Erlingson at the UPM Research Centre in Lappeenranta, Finland.

UPM and Yara are aiming to create a

fertiliser that is easy to transport and spread and provides nutrients that are ideally timed for optimal growth.

nutrient ratio,” he explains. “If the sludge were to be used as it is, dozens of tonnes

year at its Finnish plants in Uusikaupunki and Siilinjärvi, around 80% of which is exported.

Jari Pentinmäki

Innovation as a response to future challenges

would need to be spread per hectare for it to make a difference. Our project focuses on examining which nutrients can be found in the side streams and howwe need to supplement themwith mineral fertilisers to achieve an optimal fertilising programme for the plants and create a solution that is as user-friendly as possible for farmers,” adds Kauppila. Finland has a short and intense growing season, and northern plants are able to make the best use of fertiliser nutrients at the beginning of summer. This means that fertilising mainly takes place during spring sowing, but additional fertilising may be necessary later based on plant needs. If the plants utilise all of the nutrients provided, there are no excess nutrients remaining on fields, fromwhere they could be leached into waterways. Timing is thus crucial: the plants need their nutrients at exactly the right time for optimal growth and for all of the nutrients to be used up during the growing season. “Compared to organic fertilisers, mineral fertilisers offer a couple of significant benefits, such as their high, balanced nutrient content and good logistical properties. Mineral fertilisers are easy to pack, transport and spread. UPMand Yara are thus aiming to create a fertiliser that is easy to transport and spread and provides nutrients that are ideally timed for optimal growth,” Kauppila says. The fertiliser solution will be tested at Yara’s Kotkaniemi Research Station in the summer of 2017. R&D and trials will continue in 2018. Yara Finland currently manufactures 1.5 million tonnes of fertilisers every

Global population growth and rising standards of living are pushing demand for more productive use of agricultural land. Meanwhile, climate change is turning vast areas of previously arable land into wasteland. With standards of living rising in emerging markets, meat consumption is also growing. Producing one tonne of chickenmeat consumes two tonnes of grain, while one tonne of pork requires four tonnes of grain, and one tonne of beef eight tonnes of grain. Another thought-provoking fact is that the consumption of cereal crops has grown 2.1% a year over the last five decades, while the annual population growth rate has been 1.6%. “Resource efficiency is achieved in farming the same way it is in all other industries. By 2050, we need to be able to produce 60%more food than we are currently producing. Currently, 34million hectares of agricultural land outside Europe is used for growing food for European citizens. We should take more responsibility for our own food production. We have to be able to improve crop output, but we need to do so in a sustainable way that takes into account emissions and climate impacts,” says Jari Pentinmäki , Head of Marketing at Yara Nordic. Yara is a global company whose research efforts have a major impact on how various crops are fertilised around the world and how efficiently agricultural land is utilised. “The fertiliser market is a genuinely global market. Yara’s global customer base

includes 20million farmers. Research and trials and spreading new knowledge are an increasingly important part of our business,” Pentinmäki says. The fertiliser industry tries to react to global food production challenges by developing tailored fertilisers that match the nutrient needs and growth stages of specific

way of using existing side streams. “UPMand Yara have a shared goal to develop an efficient, industrial- scale recycled fertiliser that can be used to produce clean domestic food profitably and withminimum environmental emissions. This joint project is a great example of circular economy, resource efficiency and industrial collaboration,”

PUTTING UPM’S NUTRIENT STREAMS TO WORK UPM’s Finnish production plants annually produce approximately 430,000 tonnes of organic sludge (approximately 165,000 tonnes of dry matter). This sludge contains approximately 2,200 tonnes of nitrogen, 320 tonnes of phosphorus and 370 tonnes of potassium. Biomass power plants owned either partly or entirely by UPM annually generate approximately 70,000 tonnes of ash suitable for fertiliser use. Not all waste components are inherently suitable for recycling as fertiliser: this depends on their nutrient content and heavy metal content. Some of the sludge and ash types can be used as they are, whereas others require processing before being recycled.

plants. “Recently, we have worked hard to tap digital solutions to improve the efficiency of agri­ cultural land and fertiliser use and to reduce nutrient

says Esa Laurinsilta , Director of Strategic Partnerships at UPM. Despite their

benefits, recycled fertilisers are not a magic cure-all: they cannot be expected to provide a universal solution both to the challenge of efficient

leaching and emissions. Our N-Sensor techno­ logy, for instance, is based on a plant-specific algorithm. It can read the biomass and chlorophyll level of a field and deliver precise amounts of nitrogen to optimise crop and protein levels,” says Pentinmäki. No magic cure-all The project’s goal is to make the recycled fertiliser – consisting of bio and primary sludge, ash andminerals – as efficient as any other fertiliser available on the market. One of the benefits of the new fertiliser is that nutrients harvested from trees will be returned to the soil. Fertiliser production also provides a sensible

Esa Laurinsilta

recycling of industry side streams and the increasing need for food caused by population growth. “There is also some unfounded enthusiasm related to recycled fertilisers. For instance, food purity in Finland is at an excellent level and this should not be endangered by intro­ ducing foreignmatter to the nutrient cycle. Yara sees the collaboration with UPMas a meaningful project because both parties are aiming to develop a sensible, functional, responsible and sustainable new fertiliser that answers an actual market demand,” Pentinmäki emphasises. 

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