Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Peace, joy, and success for the coming year.
Thank you for being part of our journey.
Prometec
Autor: prometec-timo
Prometec receives growth support from Nordic Option
Prometec receives growth support from Nordic Option
Prometec (www.prometec.fi), founded in 2015 in Kajaani, is an expert and technology company offering automated biomass sampling and analysis systems along with related services to its customers.
Over the last few years, the company has launched the Q product family, which has started to be commercialized in the Nordic countries. Today, the company’s products are used to analyze more than 70 000 truck and 12 000 train containers of fuel per year. With Nordic Option’s support, the company is aiming for faster growth and internationalization.
„The entire Prometec team is delighted and motivated by the investment made by Nordic Option and the resources it brings. We’ve dedicated the past few years to developing technology and service solutions. Now, our focus is to emphasize the commercialization of these solutions and acquiring new customers both domestically and internationally. Our sampling and analysis solutions have global commercial potential in various industries, and our goal is to become a leading international company in our field,” states Juha Huotari, CEO of Prometec.
” We’ve been in discussions with Prometec about starting a partnership for just over two years and have come to know the company’s key personnel, technology, and business potential in-depth during this time. The company has been dedicated to developing technology that automates the outdated and manual biomass sampling process for customers while providing valuable measurement data for optimizing their processes. These solutions will enable the customer to achieve significant cost savings, improve the efficiency of core processes and substantially improve occupational safety,” continues Teemu Puumalainen, Investment Director at Nordic Option.
More information:
Teemu Puumalainen, Investment Director Nordic Option Oy, teemu.puumalainen@nordicoption.fi, 040-631 8362
Juha Huotari, CEO Prometec Tools Oy, juha.huotari@prometec.fi, 050-591 7350.
Nordic Option in brief:
Nordic Option Oy is a venture capital investment fund based in Oulu, primarily investing in growth companies from Northern Finland. The fund’s principal shareholders are Arvo Sijoitusosuuskunta, Partnera Oyj, and the City of Oulu. The company’s goal is to offer a northern alternative to support the growth and internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Prometec in brief:
Prometec Tools Oy, headquartered in Kajaani, Finland, provides its customers with automated biomass sampling and analysis systems and related services. The company’s customers are mainly in the heat and power plants and pulp industry, but Prometec’s technologies can also be used in the mining, food, biochar, and cement industries. The company currently has 10 employees and operations in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Estonia.
Prometec in MENER
In MENER project, journey of burnable wood from forest to power plant’s boiler is optimized using AI
The most important quality characteristic of wood-based fuel used in power plants is moisture. If a power plant can estimate the moisture content of the fuel before combustion, the combustion process can be adjusted to operate efficiently. Variation in moisture poses a particular challenge to the operation of the power plant’s boiler. Typically, the fluctuation caused by moisture variation has been stabilized with the help of peat, which is currently being phased out. To continue controlling the combustion process as efficiently as possible without compromising the boiler’s operation, new methods are needed to optimize the process.
The goal of the From Forest to Energy (MENER) project is to optimize the combustion process of wood-based fuels burned in power plants. The issue is approached through data and artificial intelligence. Through power plants and their collaborators, truck load data and process data are collected, which hasn’t been fully utilized yet. Additionally, data can be collected from the original forest locations and harvesting times, and supplemented with local storage time weather information.
“In the ideal scenario, the journey of wood-based fuel is known all the way from the harvesting area to the power plant’s boiler, and the fuel can be provided with the most accurate moisture forecast for different stages of the journey. The more precisely power plants know the quality characteristics of fuel coming from different sources, the better its flow can be guided at the power plants, and the combustion process optimized,” states Mr. Petri Koponen, the head of the MENER project and a senior lecturer at Kajaani University of Applied Sciences.
Previously, fuel quality information wasn’t available before unloading the load, which is why combustion or logistics optimization hasn’t been possible on this scale. Now that real-time quality information is available, we can achieve significant improvements on an entirely different level in enhancing both power plant energy efficiency and optimizing the logistics of timely fuel loads. The project is carried out as a collaborative effort involving Kajaani University of Applied Sciences (KAMK) and the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke). The work is divided so that Luke focuses on the journey of the fuel from the forest to the power plant gate, and KAMK focuses on the journey of the fuel from the gate to the boiler. The project started in June 2023, lasts for 2 years, and is funded by the Regional Council of Kainuu. The project budget is nearly 500 k€. From this, the share of KAMK is 300 k€ and the share of Luke is 200 k€.
The project involves several energy industry collaborators: power plants Kainuun Voima, Kuopion Energia and Oulun Energia; forestry management company Laania; automated sampling systems provider Prometec Tools; and Valmet Automation.
For more information:
Kajaani University of Applied Sciences
Senior lecturer and contact person for the MENER Project, Dr. Petri Koponen
+358 40 660 9709
petri.koponen@kamk.fi
Natural Resources Institute Finland
Research Scientist, Mr. Jari Lindblad
+358 29 532 3072
jari.lindblad@luke.fi
Bio360 expo
We will participate third time to Bio360 expo in Nantes. This time we are exhibition in Finnish pavilion H24.
We would be more than happy to tell you about our brand new innovation Q-Robot M. It is a automated sampler with moisture analyzer.
See you soon!
Merry Christmas
ENLIT Europe 2022
We will be present at the Enlit Europe fair in Frankfurt 29.11. – 1.12. You will find us together with 10 other companies at the Business Oulu stand 12.0.E80.
We will organise a Finland Afternoon at our stand on Wednesday at 15:30. Welcome!
Prometec’s automated biomass sampling system chosen for new Danish project
Prometec’s automated biomass sampling system chosen for new Danish project
4.2.2022
Prometec, the biomass quality control company from Finland, is delivering a comprehensive sampling solution to Fjernvarme Fyn’s site at Odense. This large biomass project will be fully commissioned in 2023, and Prometec’s fully automatized sampling solution will obtain real-time information from each biomass load to optimize energy efficiency and help improve safety at work.
The sampling solution will be installed in the sampling building at Odense. The sampler collects representative samples directly from each biomass delivery and provides real-time moisture information from each load before the truck leaves the sampling station. Prometec’s patented Q-Robot is equipped with an innovative technology measuring device that measures the moisture content of the sample as soon as the sampling is completed. The moisture data is usually used as the basis for the fuel load payments. In addition, a fully automatic bagging system has been integrated into this sampling solution to bag the samples taken by the Q-Robot for laboratory analysis. This comprehensive sampling solution is the first of its kind to be fully automated, including sample handling and moisture measurement, which significantly reduces the amount of laborious laboratory work which saves time and money.
“Moisture information is vital for power plants to optimize their combustion processes and know exactly how much energy has been delivered to their sites,” said Juha Huotari, Prometec CEO.
“We are committed to sustainability and work safety, and technological solutions are essentialMore information about biomass material means that we can operate in a more energy efficient way, ” stated Thomas Knudsen, Project Manager at Fjernvarme Fyn.
Marlene Kronborg Robanke, Strategic Buyer says, “Fjernvarme Fyn is building a state-of-the-art biomass plant. We are delighted to start a cooperation with Prometec.”
“There has been much discussion about biomass usage. We aim to be the company to deliver accurate information to our clients about biomass so that they can adjust their processes and operate in a highly energy efficient way,” said Henna Karlsson, Prometec CTO.
“The cooperation with Prometec is bringing the market a groundbreaking solution where the heterogenous biomass material can be checked in representative way and automatically in rea-time. We have developed a moisture device with Prometec for several years,” said Markku Tiitta, Puumit CEO.
Fjernvarme Fyn is Denmark’s third largest district heating company and is owned by the municipalities of Odense and Nordfyn. The company owns the largest combined heat and power plants on Funen, has almost 300 employees, and is one of Europe’s largest heat suppliers. We cover approximately 97% of the heating demand in Odense and the surrounding area, corresponding to more than 200,000 residential units. District heating is supplied according to the general guidelines set out in the heating plan, which defines supply areas and more. Fjernvarme Fyn’s aim is to provide customers with the best possible heat supply at the cheapest possible prices, while helping to increase customers’ energy and environmental awareness.
Prometec is a Finnish technology company specializing in the quality control of biomass. Prometec has improved fuel quality control and energy efficiency in more than 20 heat and power plants since 2012. Sampling has been recognized as a key element in quality control due to the heterogeneity of wooden biomass material. The moisture of the material varies even within one load, and it is necessary for energy efficiency to have accurate moisture information about each biomass delivery. Prometec’s Q-Robot automated sampler systems analyze more than 60,000 truckloads and 12,000 train containers of fuel per year in three countries.
Juha Huotari, CEO, Prometec, juha.huotari@prometec.fi +358 50 591 7350
Dorthe Due Head of procurement due@fjernvarmefyn.dk, +45 21 70 9259
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