8Developing future
solutions
VKG continued its development projects in new areas of activity in 2021. On 20 July 2021, VKG announced its plan to establish a bioproducts production complex in Ida-Viru County. For that purpose, an application was submitted to rural municipality of Lüganuse to initiate a local government special spatial plan. The complex would start producing key components for manufacturing environmentally friendly retail products and the production volume would be up to 500,000 tonnes a year.
The planned product range would include cellulose, soluble cellulose and tall oil. Demand for products made from such environmentally friendly materials is growing rapidly on the world market. The planned complex would use the most modern and flexible KRAFT technology, which involves a chemical processing of wood and is today the best available technology for producing cellulose, using both coniferous and non-coniferous wood.
VKG sees a need to add value to the currently exported wood here. Estonia has the necessary wood resource 80% of which is currently exported to the Nordic countries in the form of paper wood and wood chips. Estonia needs a modern bioproducts plant for adding value to low-quality wood and Ida-Viru County has the preconditions for establishing such a new production facility. A bioproducts production complex would help take a step forward towards diversifying the economy of Estonia and Ida-Viru County and achieving the environmental goals.
“When we manage Estonian forests, the value which we would get from the managed forest would be added in Estonia to the largest possible extent, which means that we should develop adding value to wood locally. And when it develops in a way that it keeps up with our new technologies and takes into account different environmental conditions and creates new jobs in Ida-Viru County where the level of unemployment is very high, it is doubtlessly a rather positive phenomenon.”
Minister of the Environment, 21. juuli 2021
“When we manage Estonian forests, the value which we would get from the managed forest would be added in Estonia to the largest possible extent, which means that we should develop adding value to wood locally. And when it develops in a way that it keeps up with our new technologies and takes into account different environmental conditions and creates new jobs in Ida-Viru County where the level of unemployment is very high, it is doubtlessly a rather positive phenomenon.”
Minister of the Environment, 21. juuli 2021
On 25 August 2021, the rural municipality of Lüganuse initiated a special spatial plan for establishing a bioproducts production complex and by now the terms of reference for preparing the special spatial plan and the strategic environmental assessment intent have been determined. The special spatial plan process is led by the rural municipality of Lüganuse and it will take about three years. The earliest time of launching the complex is 2027.
For more information about this development project, please visit our homepage at vkg.ee/en/bioproducts/.
Plastic waste into oil and gas
In seeking solutions not only to the problem of waste generated in the course of shale oil production, but also to the world’s biggest problem, Viru Keemia Grupp and Kiviõli Keemiatööstus last year launched a joint project for turning plastic waste into oil and gas. The plan is to adapt the processes used in shale oil factories for processing plastic waste. Technologically, ash or semicoke generated in the production of shale oil can be reused as a solid heat carrier in the plastic waste pyrolysis process. Processing plastic waste into oil and providing it again as raw material for the plastic industry is significantly more beneficial and more environmentally friendly compared to burning such waste. Thanks to the developed technology, the plant will be able to process up to 130,000 tonnes of plastic waste a year; the capacity will be limited by the availability of plastic waste in the region and the cost of transporting the waste.
The joint project complies with the companies’ principles of sustainable production and contributes to the achievement of environmental and circular economy related objectives.
Estonia’s annual volume of plastic waste produced is over
72,000
tonnes, which corresponds to 55 kg per person.
“There are very many different plastics in circulation and their use grows from year to year. It is impossible to mechanically recycle all those plastics, plus many plastics lose their qualities with each subsequent reuse cycle, meaning that they cannot be indefinitely recycled. In our project, we shall only focus on the pyrolysis of plastic waste – and not on pyrolysis together with oil shale, as we wish to contribute to the circular economy solution without using any additional fossil fuel. The strength of the joint project lies in processing unsorted and contaminated plastic waste and also using plastic waste that previously could only be landfilled or combusted. Technologically, ash or semicoke generated in the production of shale oil can be reused as a solid heat carrier in the plastic waste pyrolysis process. Processing plastic waste into oil and providing it again as raw material for the plastic industry is significantly more beneficial and more environmentally friendly compared to burning such waste.”
VKG’s Head of Development Department
“There are very many different plastics in circulation and their use grows from year to year. It is impossible to mechanically recycle all those plastics, plus many plastics lose their qualities with each subsequent reuse cycle, meaning that they cannot be indefinitely recycled. In our project, we shall only focus on the pyrolysis of plastic waste – and not on pyrolysis together with oil shale, as we wish to contribute to the circular economy solution without using any additional fossil fuel. The strength of the joint project lies in processing unsorted and contaminated plastic waste and also using plastic waste that previously could only be landfilled or combusted. Technologically, ash or semicoke generated in the production of shale oil can be reused as a solid heat carrier in the plastic waste pyrolysis process. Processing plastic waste into oil and providing it again as raw material for the plastic industry is significantly more beneficial and more environmentally friendly compared to burning such waste.”
VKG’s Head of Development Department
By today, cooperation partners have conducted considerable preliminary work, commenced applied studies and announced several international procurements for finding testing and design partners. The project is supported by the European Regional Development Fund via the Estonian Business and Innovation Agency. At the earliest, the planned industrial experimental plant could start operating in five years and help solve the ever increasing plastic waste problem in line with circular economy principles.
The 2022 development activities are mainly focused on the following topics:
- Continuing with the special spatial plan for the bioproducts production complex and initiating the preparation of a draft design,
- Developing the plastic waste pyrolysis technology with Kiviõli Keemiatööstus,
- Developing renewable energy projects,
- Analysing new business opportunities.
IT developments
In the area of IT, the Group mainly focused on ensuring the reliability of existing programmes in 2021. The implementation of the approved IT Strategy continued.
The activities of the IT Department in the area of infrastructure:
In 2022, the IT Department will replace the equipment of the Group’s core network, thereby increasing the data throughput speed, the security of data transmission and the reliability of the core network. By adding new equipment to the server fleet, we will increase the resources of the fleet and continue implementing the virtualisation strategy. We shall take into use a new network drive array, which will increase the volume of the Group’s data storage capacity as well as the speed of data processing. By launching a new backup solution, we will increase the sustainability of continuity and ensure a long-term secure backup of the Group’s data.
We shall also introduce a new high-end version of the cyber threat prevention software, improve log administration and continue developing the monitoring capacity in 2022.