The Netherlands-based Van Iperen International BV announced on Oct. 19 an exclusive agreement with Cinis Fertilizer, Lund, Sweden, a clean technology startup, to produce and market sustainable and circular, high-quality potassium sulfate (SOP) fertilizer based on salts that are recovered from the Swedish paper industry as well as from the newly-build battery manufacturer Northvolt.
Van Iperen said some 200,000 mt/y of sodium salts recovered as a byproduct from the paper industry and Northvolt will be upcycled with a close zero carbon footprint, and powered by clean energy to make a clean, high-tech and green SOP.
Cinis plans to build two fertilizer factories in northern Sweden, one in Ornskoldsvik and one in Skelleftea next to the Northvolt gigafactory, over the next four years for a total investment of over E100 million and with an SOP capacity of 300,000 mt/y.
Van Iperen will be the exclusive marketer of the SOP under its umbrella product line GreenSwitch ®, which represents new fertilizer technologies with close-to-zero carbon footprint. The first GreenSwitch SOP is planned to be on the market at the end of 2023.
Earlier this year, Van Iperen launched GreenSwitch Original, a potassium nitrate solution derived from organic manure, with a first production plant in The Netherlands.