The energy company St1 Biofuels Oy has developed a method that produces ethanol for vehicles from waste raw material. The innovation meets the challenges of sustainable development in many ways.

The Ethanol® method reduces the carbon dioxide emissions and oil dependency of transport and promotes the use of waste. By-products are also created, such as feed, fertilizers and solid biofuels.

Small production plants that can be mass produced can be transported easily to the site of a waste supplier. The thermal energy needed is produced using biofuels.

The first production plant is already in operation and several plants will be starting up this year. The patented method has considerable market potential worldwide. It received the Chemical Industry Federation of Finland’s Innovation Award in April.

Better plastic

Borealis Polymers Oy has developed new technology for producing plastic raw material. Plastic can now be tailored more precisely to meet the customer’s needs.

The catalyst technology, which received an honourable mention from the Chemical Industry Federation of Finland in April, produces new properties for polymer materials and improves the properties of plastics.

In the method, which is called Sirius, the new ZN PP catalyst is manufactured in a completely new way, and it also functions unlike any other previous solution. The innovation is already in use in the manufacturing of polypropelyne at Borealis’ own plants. The commercial opportunities are considerable.

More efficient health care

A new method for analysing a patient’s blood sample speeds up the making of decisions in emergency and intensive care. A solution developed by Innotrac Diagnostics Oy gives reliable results directly from the patient’s blood sample in less than 20 minutes. Making diagnoses and treatment decisions is much quicker this way, which helps increase the efficiency of health care.

The first commercial products are designed for detecting cardiac and vascular diseases. The method is already being extended to other areas of diagnostics. International interest is also widespread. The innovation received an honourable mention from the Chemical Industry Federation of Finland in April.

Biofuel is created from waste raw material using the Ethanol® method. (Photo: Atte Kajova)