Contributing to Fortum’s sustainable battery material recycling plant project

09/14/2022

Bilfinger Nordics expands product portfolio in Finland to cover scaffolding and insulation. First large customer is a European energy company, Fortum.

This is Bilfinger Nordics first large contract regarding insulation and scaffolding services in Finland, an expansion which is strongly connected to Bilfinger Nordics as a multidiscipline service supplier.

Fortum is expanding its recycling capacity for lithium batteries and is building a state-of-the-art hydrometallurgical plant in Harjavalta, Finland.

We are very satisfied that Fortum gives us the opportunity to expand our maintenance and fabrication portfolio also to scaffolding and insulation. Our highly skilled personnel knows Fortum’s operations very well, we have been cooperating with Fortum for several years. Helping them achieving new goals is a priority for us in Bilfinger Nordics, says Ahti Komppa, Director of Bilfinger sales and marketing in Finland.

 

Preparing for greener battery production

Building the new battery material recycling plant in Harjavalta represents a major step in increasing Fortum´s hydrometallurgical recycling capacity. This will also make it possible to produce sustainable battery chemicals at the facility. The new facility will be able to efficiently recover metals from the black mass of old EV lithium-ion batteries, while recycling various waste fractions from the entire battery supply chain.

Bilfinger Nordic's Finland department has already started the scaffolding work, and the insulation work will start shortly. The Bilfinger Nordic's project employs around 15 persons based in Harjavalta and will proceed until the end of the project in 2023.

As the electrification of transport now increases, the gap in raw materials that the electric vehicle industry faces, becomes an even greater challenge. Our new facility will strongly support the existing Finnish and European ecosystems for battery production, but it will also help the entire industry to produce more sustainable batteries in Europe, says Tero Holländer, Head of Business Line Batteries, Fortum.

Bilfinger Nordics are looking forward to maintaining the good relationship, especially when we can contribute with solutions that are more efficient.
 

"As a supplier of a number of industrial services, we indirectly contribute to more sustainable industrialisation, of which the project in Harjavalta is a good example. Bilfinger Nordics is currently working on several large projects in Finland that are supporting the Green Deal", says Ahti Komppa.

(Photo: Fortum)