LeaseGreen boosts energy efficiency in a chemical plant

The Chemigate plant will start to recover the thermal energy generated during production. The change will reduce the carbon footprint of the Mietoinen plant by a third and halve the heating bill.

Chemigate, a chemical company, takes responsibility seriously. The company wants to take concrete steps to reduce its carbon footprint. One of them is the energy renovation of the Mietoinen plant, which will result in the completion of a heat pump-based process heat recovery system in 2020.

The energy efficiency project will be implemented by LeaseGreen, a company specialising in improving the energy efficiency of large buildings and industrial processes.

Toni Koski, Operations Manager of the Mietoinen plant, considers the project to be significant both from an energy efficiency and carbon footprint perspective. The investment also provides excellent support for Chemigate’s sustainability programme.

“The new system allows us to use the heat of reaction instead of just blowing it from the scrubber into the sky. Thanks to heat pump technology, we can produce hot water that we can utilise in the distillery, both in the production process and for heating the premises.”

Chemigate manufactures and sells starch-based binders and adhesives, mainly to the paper and board industry. Starch-based substances are used to influence paper properties such as strength, opacity, smoothness and printability. Depending on the paper grade, starches account for up to 3-5% of the total weight of the paper.

Chemigate has three production plants in Finland: the Mietoinen plant specialises in the production of reagents, while the Lapua and Kaipiainen plants are so-called modification plants.

The energy renovation will save considerable energy and cut a third of the Mietoinen factory’s carbon footprint. According to LeaseGreen’s calculations, the recovery of heat generated during the manufacturing process will reduce the plant’s oil consumption by 58%. In practice, the factory’s oil bill is therefore halved.

The numbers are big. The renovation will reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the Mietoinen plant by around 300 000CO2 per year. That’s the equivalent of more than 1 200 photovoltaic panels per year or 2 400 round-trip flights to Stockholm.

“This is a truly significant, concrete action from the point of view of green thinking,” says Toni Koski, Operations Manager.

Now the industry is waking up

Thomas Luther, CEO of LeaseGreen, has noticed that the industry has really woken up to the need to act responsibly over the past year.

“Chemigate is a great example of a company at the forefront of responsible and greener thinking. We are very pleased to be involved in this project, which will save a total of about 30 Finns’ annual carbon footprint in carbon dioxide emissions,” says Luther.

LeaseGreen has given a guarantee of success to the Mietoinen energy efficiency project. According to Thomas Luther, this describes LeaseGreen’s commitment and approach. The results of the project will be monitored through digital modelling.

“For us, it is important not only to promise results, but also to take responsibility for ensuring that the project reaches its target. We are able to verify the results remotely through digital modelling. This way, together with the Chemigate people, we can ensure that the results are what they should be.”

Further information

Operations Manager Toni Koski
Chemigate, Mietoinen factory
+358 40 759 9505
toni.koski@chemigate.fi

Thomas Luther, CEO
LeaseGreen
+358 40 534 4256
thomas.luther@leasegreen.com