Climate change | The “bloody blow” of the Eloka rebellion may have hit the right spot: Finland plans to increase peat production

State peat company Neova (formerly Vapo) is no longer reducing peat production. The company’s vice president Markus Tykkyläinen in an interview with HS, on the contrary, estimates that production may even increase in the future.

The core of the company’s strategy is now to produce activated carbon from peat. In the process, however, three quarters of the peat still burns as district heat and produces large carbon dioxide emissions.

Activated carbon is used, for example, as medicine and for air filtration.

Neovan the action came into the limelight on Wednesday when Elokapina and the Swedish group protecting wetlands Återställ wetmarker demonstrated by painting the columns of the Parliament building red.

The protesters demand an end to the removal of peat. They also claimed that Neova has moved peat production from Finland to Sweden and is planning to increase production “in a way never seen before”.

Neova’s director of social relations Ahti Martikainen quoth in HS claims to be completely false. Martikainen also said that energy peat is no longer raised “at all”, in either country.

HS decided to find out if there is any truth in the claims and, on the other hand, what Neova is doing in general.

It is difficult to compare the arguments, as the parties talk past each other. Martikainen limits his review to energy peat. The protesters are against the use of peat in general.

In that case, the protesters are probably wrong that peat production was moved to Sweden. Peat is still produced in a very large amount in Finland. Last year, about five million cubic meters of peat were raised, which is five times the amount compared to Sweden.

That’s a bit compared to the production of 35 million cubic meters 15 years ago, but still quite a pile. That would fill 25 Sanomatala.

About half of this peat was burned for energy, i.e. about 12 Sanomatalols.

Energy peat usage has decreased rapidly due to emissions trading. Burning peat produces more carbon dioxide than even coal. Therefore, burning it became unprofitable when a price was charged for emissions.

The end of energy peat still does not mean the end of using peat, or even the end of burning it. In Neova, completely new uses have been invented for peat, and even more has been invested in the old ones.

The gardening company Kekkilä is part of Neova. Peat is used to make growing media and bedding for animal production. For bedding, Neova uses about one million cubic meters of peat per year in Finland and Sweden.

Peat pellets can also be fed to animals as feed, and biostimulants that improve plant nutrient utilization have been developed from peat.

New however, a large-scale business has been planned for the production of activated carbon. There is already a plant in Ilomantsi that produces activated carbon from peat by pyrolysis. The facility uses about 200,000 cubic meters of peat per year, some of which can be replaced with wood.

According to Tykkyläinen, about 25 percent of the carbon contained in the peat remains in the activated carbon. The remaining 75 percent is burned as carbon dioxide. The generated heat is directed to the Ilomantsi district heating network.

The production of activated carbon is therefore for the most part the burning of peat for the production of heat. The difference is that the Ilomantsin facility does not need to acquire emission rights, unlike an energy company that burns peat.

Other for example, only certain types of peat are suitable for the production of activated carbon used in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries. That’s why new turfs are needed.

“A very small part of Finland’s peat reserve is suitable for such a raw material. Fortunately, we have suitable bogs in Eastern and Western Finland,” says Tykkyläinen.

The company is applying for permits for new marshes around Ilomantsi. The Nature Conservation Union there are currently six bogs, and one of them, the Patrakka bog, is considered valuable for its nature.

“Our view is that it is not a natural area. It meets our criteria for an area where we can start new production,” says Tykkyläinen.

According to him, Neova does not aim for swamps that have never been drained. According to nature conservationists, valuable nature values ​​can also be found in bogs that have sometimes been treated.

Neova is also looking for new bogs for bedding production. Only the light top layer of the peat mattress is suitable as litter, which means it requires a lot of production area.

In the works there are already the following activated carbon plants. According to Tykkyläinen, the amount of peat used for the production of activated carbon will multiply with them.

“The amount of peat production is not decreasing, but the goal is to increase it if the new development projects go well,” he says. The development depends a lot on the rate at which the use of energy peat is reduced.

Except for the exceptional years of the energy crisis, Neova’s production has not been very profitable. There were non-recurring gains in the 2021 operating profit.

In the company’s annual report, it is stated several times that the business involves a significant risk related to the acceptability of raw materials and regulation.

How reasonable is it to build a business based on peat in general, if the threats are great and the profitability is weak?

According to Tykkyläinen, alternative raw materials are also prepared in all transactions.

“In activated carbon production, we are investigating the use of wood as a raw material. In principle, it can use any biomass,” he says.

According to Tykkyläinen, activated carbon sells well and the profitability is also good. In general, he believes that peat molecules can be processed into products with high added value in the future.

“We probably have the best know-how in the world regarding the chemical and physiological properties of peat.”