”Principles of entrepreneurship enable adaptation.”

- Wolfgang Büchele

Biogas production in practice PAGE 22

China, today’s paper giantPAGE 28

Preserving waters in Spokane

PAGE 42

Everyone’s Baltic SeaGetting people to discuss and preserve p. 6

More crop per drop IWMI wins the Stockholm Water Prize p. 8

Sustainable water innovationsThe demand for water grows in Asia p. 12 STAKEHOLDER MAGAZINE 2·2012

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MY VIEW

“To meet the water challenges of Asia, we have to think differently.”

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eople tend to think of innovation just from the view of research and develop-ment. When we talk about innovation we need to take a broad view and look at all potential areas of improvement.

Innovation may be something com-pletely new, but it may also be about adopting existing technology from else-where. However, we must recognize that the situation in Asia is quite different. The size of the population alone creates a

new set of challenges.Water technology that has been successful in the past in other

countries may not be the best in this context. When you have a city population over 20 million, you cannot serve their water needs they way we are used to.

To meet these challenges, we have to think differently about water management, treatment technology, and infrastructure. The new, highly efficient membrane technology is one way. And we have the added benefit of no legacy of old technology in Asia, mak-ing it easier to construct new membrane facilities.

The awareness of the value of water is increasing throughout Asia. People are beginning to understand what it takes to take care of wastewater and growing to accept paying for that. We should also remember that typically water use goes down when charges are introduced, which is good.

Water is a hot topic across industries in Asia as well. Industries are realizing that by recycling water, they can reduce their water demand and cut energy consumption.

Our new manufacturing plant in Nanjing, China, will produce chemicals for the Asian market. One particularly important prod-uct will be the new ASA sizing agents aimed at the needs of Asia’s growing paper and board industry.

The strategic importance of water is recognized by nearly every country. They know that if they don’t get it right, it will be to the detriment of their further growth and development.

Joe ChanVice President, APAC

Kemira

The megacities of China and India are on a different scale than what we see elsewhere in the world. Both the size and num-ber of these megacities are extraordinary. Water technology that has been successful in the past in other countries may not

be the best in this context. To meet these challenges, we have to think differently about water management, treatment tech-nology, and infrastructure. The new, highly efficient membrane technology is one way.

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INNOVATIONS FOR WATER. Asia is growing, and so is its demand for water. More innovation is needed in all are-as of the water industry from technology to processes, business models and financing to speed up the produc-tion of sustainable water and guarantee water security. PAGES 12–19

CONTENT

“Sustainable development is also a source of innovation that creates new business opportunities and a competitive advantage. Research plays a key role in reducing environmental impact.”MICHELLE XIAO PAGE 7

EBIT improvement expected Markku Järvinen, financial analyst at Evli Bank Plc, expects Kemira’s EBIT margin to improve to 9% by 2014 – slightly below the target of 10% set as part of Kemira’s global restructuring pro-gram “Fit for Growth”.page 34 R

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More crop per drop As the population grows, new solutions are needed for feeding the planet. Inter-

national Water Management Institute IWMI was awarded the prestigious 2012 Stockholm Water Prize for its pioneering research that improves sus-tainable agricultural water management. page 8

Stories on molecules A microbiologist from Kemira, Sebastiao

de Sá, decided to pass on important messages on diversity and wrote a book to children. More than 2,000 copies of the book have been handed to school classes in Brazil now.page 9

Corrosion in controlAnnually industries lose over 60 billion US dollars due to corrosion. Scott Campbell,

Senior Principal Scientist at Kemira, talks about microbial influenced corrosion (MIC) and his role in reducing the risks of corrosion.page 20

Biogas in practice Kemira’s products and application know-

how in the biogas processes are now widely used by the industry. Read how they work in a biogas plant in Kouvola, Finland, and in a waste recycling company NSR in Helsingborg, Sweden.page 22

China, the paper giantPaper production needs water. Water sus-tainability is becoming a major challenge

for the Chinese paper industry, especially as it is expected to see sustained growth for the next 10–15 years. Kemira’s new Nanjing site will be an important asset in serving China’s paper producers.page 28

New structures Sharpening the strategy is the first task of

Wolfgang Büchele, the new President and CEO of Kemira. ”We must know what not to do. We are sharpening the strategy to strengthen the focus on water quality and quantity management.”page 36

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EDUCATION is one of the means governments use to create demand for new sustainable water solu-tions. Singapore has a specific program for pro-moting conservation called Active, Beautiful and

Clean, or ABC. Part of this program includes invest-ments in making Singapore’s waterways and reser-voirs more attractive. “We help bring the people of Singapore closer to their sources of water and help

them enjoy water-related recreation activities as well as build a deeper appreciation for water,” says Chee Kiong Goh, Director for Clean Technology, Sin-gapore Economic Development Board (EDB).

WaterLink is a magazine for Kemira’s stakeholders. The magazine is published in Finnish and English. PUBLISHER: Ke-mira Oyj, www.kemira.com. EDITOR IN CHIEF: Marie Lundgren, tel. +46 42 17 11 19. PRODUCTION: Markkinointiviestintä

Dialogi Ltd. www.dialogi.fi. EDITOR Arja Kulmala. PRODUCER: Tarja Sinervo. ART DIRECTION: Jesper Vuori. SALES DIRECTOR: Maarit Pojanluoma. PRINTED BY: PunaMusta Joensuu. ISSN 1798-9639. PAPER: UPM Fine 120 g/m2 and Edixion 250 g/m2. COVER PHOTO: Perttu Saksa. TRANSLATIONS: AAC Global. Please send your feedback to marie.lundgren@kemira.com. Subscriptions and changes of address: www.kemira.com/media

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Legislation can work for the environmentEven though massive actions have been taken to reduce the release of phosphorus, the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea still remains an acute problem. Large amounts of phosphorus are leaking to the Baltic Sea via wastewater, from agriculture and sediments, caus-ing large oxygen-depleted areas on the seabed. At the same time, phosphorus is a finite resource and vital for all life on earth, including a necessity for food pro-duction.

“In 20 to 30 years, the demand for phosphorus will outstrip the supply,” says bength hansen, senior application specialist at Kemira.

If phosphorus could be recycled, it would solve both problems, eutrophication and the finite resource chal-lenge. In fact, the technology to recycle phosphorus already exists. Twelve years ago, Hansen and his fel-low colleagues at Kemira developed a process solution for recycling phosphorus, which was first intended for use in Sweden. But the Swedish government of the time cancelled the legislative ambitions and the tech-nology became a non-issue.

“Without legislation that forces municipalities and companies to invest in technology to recycle phospho-rus, nothing will happen,” states gunnar smith, sen-ior sales manager at Kemira.

In order to check if the timing was right to re-launch the phosphorus recycling idea, Hansen and Smith participated in the Almedalen week, a huge Swedish political event that attracts large number of journalists, lobbyists, politicians and representatives of non-governmental organizations.

“I was very positively surprised by the affirmative feedback we got,” states Smith.

The recycling technology already exists, but only political initiatives can make it relevant again.

TV series presents the sea to everyoneIn the summer of 2012 the Finnish television channel MTV3 aired a ten-episode series entitled Itämeri (the Baltic Sea). The fundamental idea of the series was to show how the Baltic Sea is doing and what can be done to restore it. Through Kemira’s commitment as a part of the Baltic Sea Action Group (BSAG), the com-pany was invited to contribute to the series.

aija jantunen, head of Kemira’s Municipal & Indus-trial segment’s operations in Finland and the Baltic countries, is featured in many of the episodes.

“We are one of the experts in the program. Many of Kemira’s measures to reduce the load on the Bal-tic Sea and diminish the ecological food print are pre-sented,” Jantunen says. “This is a good opportunity to be seen by a big audience. We would like to help peo-ple to start thinking about what we each, as individu-als, could do in order to save the Baltic Sea.”

The episodes are hosted by Finnish TV person-ality heikki paasonen and marine biologist juha flinkman, who explore the sea. A number of celeb-rities, such as the former president of Finland tarja halonen and Swedish crown princess victoria and prince daniel are also interviewed.

Kemira’s commitment to the BSAG has resulted in two large research projects that aim to improve the recycling of nutrients and the removal of organic con-taminants. One focuses on how to efficiently recover nitrogen, the other on how to recycle phosphorus. The TV series has led to further discussion in Finland.

“We help make the eutrophication issue official and get people to discuss the Baltic Sea,” Jantunen says. “Public awareness is very important. It is people, including politicians, that are the ones who make deci-sions and get things to happen,” she says.

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BRIEFING: IN HOUSE

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EVERYONE’S BALTIC SEA

Public opinion and timing are key factors whenlaunching new environmental technologies.

K E M I R A S T A K E H O L D E R M A G A Z I N E • 7

Chinese Michelle Xiao, 32, began her work as head of Kemira’s research and development center in Shanghai (Asia-Pacific) in June. She is married and the mother of a 2-year-old son. She had always wanted to live and work in Shanghai, also known as the Pearl of Asia.

Why did you choose Kemira?I studied environmental sciences and technology at Stanford University in the United States. After that, I gained diverse experience by holding var-ious positions in the water industry. I wanted to expand my views and expertise, for which Kemira offered a wonderful opportunity. I knew that Kemira was the world’s leading supplier of coag-ulants for water treatment and the third larg-est supplier of flocculants. I’m very honored to be able to work for Kemira.

What does your job involve? I’m responsible for developing the research and development center’s operations and technologies as well as the employees’ competencies. My team collaborates closely with the sales team and sup-ports local business operations by developing cus-tomer-focused technologies, for example.

What does your job mean for you, and how does it improve people’s lives in Shanghai or Asia?The relationship between people and nature has always been important to me. For me, sustainable development is also a source of innovation. For the company, it creates new business opportuni-ties and a competitive advantage. Research and product development play a key role in reducing customers’ environmental impact. For example, we develop biodegradable antiscalants that do not burden waterways. Eutrophication consider-ably reduces the quality of the living environment while also causing fish kill and increasing the cost of drinking water treatment around the world.

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New views& research

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“I wanted to expand my views and expertise, for which

Kemira offered a

wonderful opportunity.”

One of the best things to do to meet the world’s food demand is to help farmers use water more effectively.

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In some 30 to 40 years the Earth will have a population of nine billion peo-ple. To feed all those mouths using the water productivity we have today is almost impossible.

“In 2050, we will not have more water or land to grow food,” says Dr. colin chartres, Director General of International Water Management Institute (IWMI). “So we have to be much more productive and efficient with our water.”

IWMI is the driving force promot-ing policies and techniques to help farmers to produce ‘more crop per drop’, and to implement solutions that help farmers to produce enough food with limited water resources.

Headquartered in Colombo, Sri Lanka, IWMI is the winner of the prestig-ious 2012 Stockholm Water Prize for its pioneering research that helps improve sustainable agricultural water management, enhance food security, and protect environmental health.

“The prize gives us a great deal of recognition for the hard work that our staff has put in during the last 25 years, and for the innovative output that we’ve produced,” Chartres says. “I’m proud that it recognizes the fact that we have helped a lot of farmers.”

Chartres mentions four areas where iwmi has made a difference since it was founded in 1984. “The most crit-ical aspect is water productivity, and

we strongly push this to get poor farm-ers raise their productivity,” he says.

IWMI’s global water scarcity maps are among the most important infor-mation sources in the water science arena. Work with the maps also led iwmi’s researchers to create a water accounting system that can determine the amount of potentially usable water in a basin, assess where the water is going and calculate the actual cost per cubic meter. The tool is widely used by planners to identify where water can be saved, and how it can be used most effectively.

A fourth area is influencing water management policies. A practical example of a policy change comes from Gujarat State in India, where ground water was over-utilized by farmers.

“We came up with the idea to sep-arate the power supply lines for the water pumps from power to every-thing else in the villages. This way power to the pumps could be switched off for much of the day. The result was less power was used and we reduced excessive water pumping that had lit-tle impact on increased agriculture production,” Chartres says. “Water management is not only about its bio-physical aspects, but also about how you can be innovative within the social-economic setting.”

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More crop per drop

BRIEFING: GREEN IDEAS

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With world food demand projected to double by mid-century, more will need to be grown with less water.

K E M I R A S T A K E H O L D E R M A G A Z I N E • 9

The Associação dos Funcionários da Kemira (AFK) has sponsored the pub-lication and distribution of the chil-dren’s book Peraltice de Moleque, writ-ten by company employee sebastião de sá (Tião). He is a microbiologist and currently the Senior Scientist for South America in Kemira’s biocides area.

The inspiration to write a children’s book began at home, at a time when his small children liked to listen to stories.

“To take advantage of the short time I had with them, I decided to invent some stories using my professional experience. I used this resource to pass on important messages in a way that interested them,” explains Tião.

Between February and April 2012, more than two thousand copies of the book, which discusses respect for dif-ferences and the environment in sim-ple and fun language, were distrib-uted to employees, outsourced workers, and underprivileged children at schools located in the cities where the company operates. The book tells the story of boys that like fishing a lot but end up catch-

ing frogs and not fish and resolve to give fireflies to the frogs to eat, in order to differentiate them.

The moral of the story is presented by the mother, who sees the change in color in the frogs and goes to find out what’s been happening.

According to onel lopes, Manager of the Telêmaco Borba Plant and President of the AFK, the objective of this pro-

ject was to encourage children to have more contact with books so that they can go beyond the boundaries of school and, furthermore, to engage Kemira employees in social actions, encouraging them to bring new ideas and projects to improve education in Brazil. Up to now, more than 900 copies have been distrib-uted to schools in São Paulo, Paraná and Santa Catarina.

Innovation Mill, a project launched in 2009 by Nokia, Tekes, and Technopolis, has expanded into new areas. Kemira is among the new anchor companies who will offer its unused ideas and innovations.

The target of the program is to create dozens of new companies. In three years the project has been able to establish a new operation

model for the creation of new companies, products and ser-vices. The program utilizes unused ideas and technolo-gies by transferring them to other companies as new pro-ducts and services.

“Even a focused R&D pro-ject typically generates good ideas which we for one rea-son or another decide not to develop further. The Innova-tion Mill aims to create value

even with these”, says ilkka pollari, who participated in formulating the program as Kemira’s representative.

Innovation Mill provides financial assistance and net-works for improving the competitiveness of innova-tive companies. The service is suited for start-ups, growth companies and already estab-lished small and medium-size enterprises. More than

40 companies have already been funded through the pro-gram, and the project has significantly improved their technological position and market position.

Companies who can ben-efit from anchor company ideas can be new established or under one year old com-panies who don’t yet have remarkable business.

KEM

IRA

Molecules and respect for differences are themes in the book that Kemira’s employees have distributed to many school classes in Brazil.

Innovation Mill expands

Stories on molecules

The International Water Management Institute’s (IWMI) research shows that somewhere between 700 million and one billion people living in subur-ban areas in the developing countries use unclean

wastewater for its vegetables. IWMI is working on minimizing risks for these people through a num-ber of programs and actions. It is the winner of the 2012 Stockholm Water Prize that honors indi-

viduals, institutions or organizations whose work contributes broadly to the conservation and pro-tection of water resources. Kemira is one of the founders of this prize.

BRIEFING: OUR WORLD

Devoted innovatorsAs one of the main partners of the Millennium Technology Prize, the world’s largest technology prize awarded by Technology Academy Finland, Kemira wants to promote innovations that improve quality of human life and promote sustainable development.T E X T P Ä I V I L E H T O - T R A P N O W S K I · P H O T O S K A R L V I L H J Á L M S S O N

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The winners of the Millennium Technology Prize 2012, Linus Torvalds (left) and Shinya Yamanaka visited Kemira’s Research & Development Center in Espoo in June.

The 2012 Millennium was divided by two prominent innovators, linus torvalds and dr shinya yamanaka

Linus Torvalds, a native of Finland and now U.S. citizen, received the prize in recognition of his creation of a new open source operating system for com-puters leading to the widely used Linux kernel. Dr. Shinya Yamanaka from Japan was rewarded for his discovery of a method to develop induced pluripo-tent stem cells for medical research that do not rely on the use of embryonic stem cells. The Millennium Prize is worth 1,000,000 euros in total. In Kemira’s

capacity as one of the main partners, an important objective is to promote con-tinuous innovation in the field of water chemistry and technology in general.

“A gap of 40% between global water demand and supply is expected by 2030. This calls for continuous innovations and new water treatment solutions, especially such that can increase water reuse and enable utilization of poor-quality raw water,” says heidi fager-holm, Executive Vice President, R&D and Technology, Kemira.

It is important for Kemira to innovate and find new ways to water quality and

quantity management in order to save customers’ water, energy and natural resources. At the same time, the aim is to reduce the customers’ environmental footprint. Fagerholm reminds that inno-vation requires a company culture that encourages the freedom of innovation.

“Innovation can be nurtured by open communications and learning from mis-takes. In Kemira, we also value our part-nerships with companies like Metso and Outotec, collaborations with universities and research institutes, like the SWEET project, as well as our own R&D centers around the globe.”

K E M I R A S T A K E H O L D E R M A G A Z I N E • 1 1

In search of pure waterLots of energy and youthful enthusiasm were in the air when the participants of Millennium Youth Camp’s Water group visited Kemira’s R&D Center in Espoo. During the group work, these young people investigated the effects of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics on drinking water.

”The water group is facilitated by Kemira as we want to network with young scientists and facili-tate discussion on water. Scien-tific breakthroughs are not in the focus,” says ilkka pollari, Direc-tor, IP Management at Kemira, who was hosting the students.

Millennium Youth Camp proved once again to be very pop-ular. Thirty participants were chosen from 1,600 applicants. Two-hundred-and-fifty of the applicants expressed interest in the water theme, and finally five students participated in the small group. The work was supported by a top-level expert on water, Professor tuula tuhkanen, who teaches water chemistry at Tam-pere University of Technology.

“We had good conversations with the water team. The tal-ented young scientists share a passion to learn about practi-cally anything. They flooded their instructors and the hosts at Hel-sinki water works and Kemira’s lab with good questions and also provided some interesting, out-of-the-box ideas,” says Pollari, describing the atmosphere.

He considers the active network of the third year campers to be the most significant achievement of the Millennium Youth Camp.

MILLENNIUM Youth Camp was held in June. The camp offered young people between the ages of 16 and 19 an overview of Finnish expertise and top-level research in the natural sciences, mathe-matics and technology. Kemira is one of the partners of the Millen-

nium Prize and the Millennium Youth Camp. During the one-week camp, multinational campers heard lectures, held workshops and made visits to partners’ sites. Project work done during the camp was supervised by top-level experts.

1. What is the state of clean water and sanitation in your hometown?2. In your opinion, how are water and sustainability connected?3. What have you learned during the camp?4. What does this camp mean for your future?

Joanna Vidovic (18)Zimbabwe, Harare1. In Zimbabwe, we have an issue with providing any type of water to most places, and many of us have our own wells. We cannot drink the tap water with-out cleaning it. That is why I have my own water cleaning sys-tem at home.2. We need to improve educa-tion about water. One common method for saving water in Zim-babwe is to put a brick in the water tank so that less water is used when flushing.3. I have learned a lot about alternative ways to clean water and remove the pharmaceuticals, and about the problems we face with water in the future. 4. The water theme group helped me to realize the feasibil-ity of my project, which is about searching for a natural way to clean water by using the seed paste of the perennial tree Mor-inga Oleifera.

Thamonwan Cheamprida (18) Thailand, Bangkok1. Tap water in Thailand is very clean and drinkable. However, the rivers in Thailand are not so clean. One reason is that peo-ple tend to wash their clothes in rivers.2. Water means life and only if we have clean water can our life be sustainable. At school, we are taught about sustainability through lessons on how to save water. 3. I have learned a lot about household cleaning chemicals. They are released into the water system, which has its effects. Many perfumes and colorants are added for commercial purposes, not for environmental ones.4. The camp taught me where to find more information about water. Info on pharmaceuticals in drinking water will be useful to me in the future when I go to university to study medicine.

Pavithra Parthasarathy (18) Canada, Mississauga 1. We are fortunate to have pretty clean water and a high level of sanitation in Canada. I live near Lake Ontario and there are five big lakes nearby. As clean as the area is, I can some-times see signs such as ”Contam-ination – do not enter”.2. Sustainability is important. If you have only contaminated water, life is very difficult. 3. I have learned that we have many different perspectives about the importance of water, even though we all agree that it is important to have clean water. Water scarcity affects our lives in different ways. 4. In the water theme group, I got lots of information on the effects of pharmaceuticals in water. When people eat fish, all the chemicals accumulate in our bodies. This camp made me more aware of these issues.

We made a few questions to three Millennium Youth campers. Read what Joanna from Zimba-bwe, Thamonvan from Thailand and Pavithra from Canada think about water and innovations.

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K E M I R A S T A K E H O L D E R M A G A Z I N E • 1 3

Water secur i ty dr ives

Water security has joined climate change at the top of nearly every country’s list

of priorities. More innovation is needed, particularly in Asia, to meet demands for

sustainable water.T E X T R A N D E L W E L L S · I L L U S T R A T I O N S C A J S A H O L G E R S S O N

INNOVATIONAsia is home to more than half the world’s population. Many live in underdeveloped, rural areas, while others live in massive megacities.

Some countries in the Asia Pacific region, such as Japan, Aus-tralia and Singapore, are leading the way in water sustainability. Other countries are just now com-ing to grips with what water secu-rity means for them.

Fortunately many countries already recognize that water affects their economic develop-ment. The general population is also demanding better wastewater treatment.

“This bodes well for a higher rate of adoption of new water technologies and business mod-els throughout Asia,” says chee kiong goh, Director for Clean Technology, Singapore Economic

Development Board (EDB). “Sin-gapore also faced many chal-lenges with water and is a strong believer in innovation as a means to achieve water self-sufficiency.”

“There is no question that gov-ernments in Asia need to ratchet up their production of clean water,” he continues. “To achieve this, we need to see more inno-vation in all areas of the water industry, from technology to busi-ness models and financing.”

As an economy develops and cit-izens become more informed, the importance of water security moves to the forefront of public sentiment. Greater awareness of water security impacts how people value water.

“Take for instance a recent pro-test in a town in China,” says

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“We need to get more banks and other financial institutions into the water business.”

being the major one. High iron is also prevalent. “The results of these problems are saddening,” says Timonen. “You can really see the impact of these contaminants in the population.”

Population growth and urban-ization have lead to overdrawing of ground water. The water lev-els throughout India are dropping drastically.

Kemira recently visited a Plan India project in Hydrabad to check the water quality and inves-tigate ways to better support the poor communities t here. “We have had several meetings with Kemira together with the Minis-try for Rural Development regard-ing new filtration solutions,” say Srinivasan.

“We are looking forward to working with Kemira on new solutions, particularly regard-ing the iron, arsenic and bacterial problems we face,” he adds.

Where infrastructure is a key prob-lem in India, China faces chal-lenges due to its urbanization rate. There are several full-blown mega cities in eastern China already, and several more are emerging in the west. Chengdu, for example, has 10 million inhab-itants, and the government pre-dicts it to grow to 15 million within three years.

This rapidly changes the water landscape. The infrastructure for water distribution, treatment and effluent has to grow very fast to accommodate the influx of people. To keep pace, the Chinese govern-ment is calling for more techno-logical innovation around water. They do this by implementing

harri eronen, Director, Paper Applications, for Kemira APAC.

“They were upset with a paper mill that had proposed a new dis-charge pipe into the sea close to one of the main fisheries in the area. The government responded by stepping in and putting a stop to that project.”

A sound, long-term water man-agement policy is fundamental to achieving water security.

“Before we even apply tech-nology, we need to have a com-prehensive water management framework,” says Goh. “A corner-stone of that framework is estab-lishing an acceptable, realis-tic price structure for water use, along with instilling in society a culture of water conservation.”

“At Rio there was also a gen-eral agreement that a new sus-tainable development financing strategy is needed,” notes riikka timonen, Director, Sustainabil-ity, at Kemira. “Simply put, we need more innovation in the area of business and financing around water.”

Particularly in rural areas, financ-ing is a problem because most water treatment technology remains expensive. In India, com-munities lacking basic sanitation and adequate clean water are the main target of projects carried out by Plan India.

Plan India’s main focus is on improving conditions for children throughout India.

“Financing is always a question, but we have been able to collect start-up capital for our projects through grants and loans,” says r k srinivasan, Technical Advisor

at Plan India. “Long-term financ-ing comes from the communities themselves.”

Singapore is an active propo-nent of the public-private partner-ship (PPP) model. For example, Singapore-based Hyflux recently won a contract for a new desalina-tion plant in India together with local and international partners using the PPP model.

“We need to get more banks and other financial institutions into the water business,” says Goh.

Education is one of the key ways governments can help cre-ate demand for new sustainable water solutions. In China, nearly every day government advertise-ments about saving water and sav-ing the earth are played on televi-sion. In India, however, people are not used to thinking about drink-ing water and sewage water as a single cycle, says Srinivasan.

While the fundamentals remain the same, every country is a dif-ferent context – socially, econom-ically and politically, not to men-tion environmentally.

The top priority in India remains getting clean drinking water to the general population from ground water. Some 85% of drinking water comes for deep well drilling.

“We have limited municipal water treatment capacity,” says Srinivasan. “We can only treat around 15% of the total sewage. The rest goes untreated into the waterways, which is why people only consider ground water a safe source.”

But ground water in India has many inherent problems, arsenic

“Calling for innovations around water.”

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● Innovation in all areas of the water indus-try is needed to secure the production of clean water in Asia.

● Kemira is increasing investments through-out the APAC region.

● In India, Kemira works together with Plan India on solving prob-lems with the iron, arsenic and bacteria in ground water.

● The inter-est in mem-brane tech-nology is very high in China and elsewhere in Asia.

● Kemira is building new plants in Nanjing, China, and Visakhapat-nam, India to increase its presence near customers in the regions.

5FACTS

“The water landscape is changing rapidly.”

new policies and regulations to spur innovation, like those regard-ing sludge treatment.

“While there is much talk about water treatment, what we see in China is a growing concern about sludge dewatering,” says joe chan, Vice President of Kemira APAC. “We have good technology for cleaning water. Much of the innovation in that area is about refining those solutions like, for instance, cutting energy consump-tion. Dewatering, on the other hand, is still in need of major advancements.”

The central government has introduced a new requirement for the water content of municipal sludge in the latest 5-year-plan (12th 5-year Plan). The total water content of sludge must be reduced from 80% down to 60%.

Improvements are needed in the entire dewatering process to be able to achieve such a radi-cal drop. “We have to change the makeup of sludge both to reduce total volume and find other things to do with it, like incineration, but again, for that the sludge needs to be quite dry to avoid expend-ing too much energy burning it,” says Chan.

Large, sprawling megacities are not always best served by central-ized water solutions. The water infrastructure and transport costs can be prohibitively high.

Many of the areas lacking proper water and sanitation in India also have little to no access to the energy grid. Plan India has implemented scissor pumps at some schools, for example. They have also imple-mented force lift pumps using solar panels for electricity that can sup-

ply whole communities.“We need more innovation in

decentralized solutions,” says Timonen. “As urbanization con-tinues, there will be ever greater concentrations of people whose water and wastewater needs can-not be met through traditional approaches.”

“Yet decentralized wastewa-ter treatment has its challenges,” notes Goh. “You have the advan-tage of economies of scale with centralized solutions.”

Centralized wastewater treatment plants have a very large footprint compared to the number of peo-ple they serve. This is in part why many Chinese municipalities are adopting membrane bioreactors (MBRs) which can clean large amounts of water quickly with a relatively small footprint. China is the fastest growing market for MBRs in the world, growing by double digits every year.

“We have chemical solutions for MBRs and we are developing new solutions specifically for the Chi-nese market together with uni-versities here,” explains Eronen. “These chemicals will improve the energy efficiency of the MBR pro-cess. We can either improve the flux, or get the same flow through the membrane with less energy.”

Membrane technology is really taking off in many parts of Asia. There is rapid development in new membrane types for reverse osmosis, forward osmosis, and many other techniques.

“In Singapore, we are looking to revolutionize the desalination sec-tor with new, low energy mem-brane systems,” says Goh. “The

typical energy need for desalina-tion is three kilowatt hours per cubic meter of water. Through the partnership with Siemens in Singapore, we anticipate a com-mercialized solution combining membranes and electro-chemi-cal technology that will cut energy consumption in half. This is also aligned with our focus on optimiz-ing the water-energy nexus.”

Kemira is increasing its invest-ments throughout the APAC region. “We are shifting gears to meet the demands of these mar-kets,” says Chan. Along with joint research and development efforts with universities in the region, Kemira is expanding its manufac-turing capabilities.

In Nanjing, China, Kemira has undertaken a major green-field project to build a new man-ufacturing plant that will be completed owned by Kemira. Expected to be in operation by the end of 2012, the plant will pro-duce specialty chemicals for the paper industry, as well as products for oil, mining, municipal and industrial customers.

Kemira is also building a new plant in India, in Visakhapatnam. The facility will produce mainly coagulants and should be in oper-ation by autumn 2012. These two new plants along with the exist-ing one in Yanzhou, China, are just the first step in expanding Kemira’s capabilities in the APAC region. These operations will bring Kemira closer to its custom-ers there, and allow production of products that are tailored to the particular needs of the region.

K E M I R A S T A K E H O L D E R M A G A Z I N E • 1 7

FOCUS

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Professor Ng Wun Jern says that cost-efficiency and environmental performance go hand-in-hand in Asian water management.

K E M I R A S T A K E H O L D E R M A G A Z I N E • 1 9

● Nanyang Environment & Water Rese-arch Institute,NEWRI, is a cutting-edge R&D institute in the envi-ronmental and clean water technologies domain.

● NEWRI is part of the Nany-ang Technolo-gical Univer-sity in Singa-pore.

● Its goal is to translate research into industry-rele-vant app-lications that benefit society.

Access to clean water is a burning issue all around the world. Asian countries are no exception.

“Be it for drinking, industries or agriculture, the need for water, energy-efficiency and good resi-dues management are high on the agenda,” confirms Professor ng wun jern, who recently paid a visit to the Kemira R&D centre in Finland.

Since 2010, Kemira has been working with the highly regarded Singapore Membrane Technol-ogy Center, a Centre of Excellence within the Nanyang Environ-ment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI). The project focus has been on desalination technologies and chemistries.

“NEWRI is hoping to increase its cooperation with Kemira, which is a leader in the field of water chemistry. Together our organizations can work wonders, as we both have very unique but complementary skill sets. What’s more, Kemira’s new CEO wolf-gang büchele has considerable experience of the Asian market,

which will be helpful as Kemira looks East.”

According to Professor Ng Wun Jern, there is a broad spectrum of levels of development in water technologies in Asia.

“Overall, the local technical competence should not be under-estimated. In some regions it is very high, even cutting-edge.”

“Foreign companies will proba-bly find their competitive edge in the areas such as better technolo-gies and equipment, quality, and capacity to finance.”

As the “greening of Asia” is clearly visible, the local govern-ment might not run the water treatment plants anymore but supervises their environmental performance.

“Cost-efficiency and environ-mental performance go hand in hand. And as economies develop, increasingly informed populations are demanding better environ-mental quality,” Professor Ng Wun Jern says.

The change in attitudes and

growing understanding of envi-ronmental constraints is also reflected in the vocabulary used.

“More and more, you’ll hear Asians talk about ‘used’ water, instead of sewage or wastewa-ter. This stems from the realiza-tion that water can be renewed for another cycle of use, and that wastewater contains valuable reclaimable components.”

In a market sense, modern wastewater treatment in China started in the 1980’s. The equip-ment and facilities are now reach-ing an age where replacements and upgrades are needed.

“Current challenges in China include old piping networks, aging sewage treatment plants in large cities, and a severe water short-age in North China. Many plants do not have adequate sludge treat-ment systems and they consume too much energy,” Professor Ng Wun Jern lists.

“Companies like Kemira could help in innovating solutions to alleviate these issues.”

5FACTS

Wanted: clean water in Asia

The Asian market for clean water and relatedtechnologies is ever-expanding, says Professor Ng Wun

Jern, Executive Director of the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute.

T E X T J O H A N N A P A A S I K A N G A S - T E L L A · P H O T O M A R T T I L E P P Ä

AGENDA

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Scott Campbell, Senior Principal Scientist at Kemira, talks about microbially influenced corrosion (MIC) and his role in reducing the risks of corrosion in the oil and gas industry.

COSTLY CORROSION Annually industries lose over 60 billion US dollars due to corrosion. Metallic corrosion is costly to repair and can lead to serious environmental damage, even loss of life. In 1991 a New Mexico gas pipeline developed a pin-hole sized leak due to MIC. When a family stopped to camp in the area, the explosion vaporized everything and everyone, leaving a 45-foot wide crater behind.

Current estimates indicate as much as 50% of internal cor-rosion is due to microbially influenced corrosion. We cannot actually prevent metallic corrosion, so my job is to reduce the rate of corrosion to acceptable levels.

BIOCIDES AT WORK In the oil and gas industry, we need to ensure a petroleum system does not lose its integrity before the end of its lifespan. In the US we face the added challenge of old infrastructure being brought back online, extending the origi-nal lifespan of 30 to 35 years to 60+years of operation.

We are now working hard on applying Kemira’s biocides to lower the risks of MIC within these systems in order to meet the new lifespan expectations. I perform testing to optimize and find the correct applications through different operating systems: from storage facilities to hydraulic fracking. In addi-tion I provide expert consulting to end users.

EDUCATION AND STANDARDS The National Association of Cor-rosion Engineers (NACE) is the leading international authority on corrosion. My history with NACE stretches back 12 years, working as a consultant, committee chair, and lead instructor. This year I joined forces with Kemira.

I still work in many roles at NACE. My expertise as a petro-leum microbiologist is unique, and I have been asked to be involved in teaching, writing and updating standards that apply to MIC.

randel wells

Controllingcorrosion

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Kemira opened a new Research & Devel-opment projects laboratory in Alberta, Canada on May 1, 2012. The laboratory is located on the campus of the Univer-sity of Alberta and it will be an extension of Kemira’s North American R&D, head-quartered in Atlanta.

The location is a very convenient for the laboratory since Canada’s oil sands contain the world’s second-biggest oil resource after Saudi Arabia.

Over the years the University of Alberta has developed competencies related to oil sands processing. Oil sand producers like Suncor, Synrude, Shell and CNRL fund a large number of pro-jects at the university. Kemira is cur-

rently sponsoring a research chair at the University of Alberta together with Sun-cor and Outotec.

Having an R&D laboratory in Edmonton, Alberta indicates Kemira’s long-term commitment to become an active player and supplier to the oil sands industry.

“This facility demonstrates Kemi-ra’s commitment to Alberta and to the research work in the area of water qual-ity and quantity management address-ing water consumption, reuse and recy-cling by the in-situ oil sands extrac-tion industry. In addition, it establishes a local Kemira presence within the aca-demic and technical center of oil sands-

related research and innovation,” says mohan nair, Senior Manager Oil & Gas R&D.

The new laboratory also provides a technology platform to showcase and demonstrate Kemira’s innovative solu-tions to targeted audiences. In addition, the new site supports Kemira’s regional growth in the conventional oil and gas marketplace, e.g. stimulation, drilling and cementing.

Kemira has four global research R&D centers: in Espoo (Europe), Shanghai (Asia Pacific), São Paulo (South Amer-ica) and Atlanta (North America).

sirkku saariaho

Local R&D in Alberta

KEM

IRA

CURRENTLY, there are a number of unmet needs in oil sands processing. One is related to mature fine tailings and the need to remediate the tailings ponds. There is also a demand to develop robust

solutions for processing poor quality oil sands ores. The in-situ requires innovative solutions to clean produced water, which is actually the focus of the Oil Sands Chair supported by Kemira.

Kemira’s new Research & Development projects laboratory in Alberta, Canada was opened in May.

AT YOUR SERVICE

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The results of Kemira’s research and development work for more efficient biogas

production is now put into practice by several companies.

T E X T J U S S I - P E K K A A U K I A A N D H U G H O ’ B R I A N • P H O T O S N S R A N D K E M I R A

Biogas

IN PRACTICEBiogas produced from organic waste is growing in importance as the demand for renewable energy increases constantly. As reported earlier in Waterlink, Kemira has used it’s expertise to develop a portfolio of treatments to enhance the whole biogas process. “Our BDP technology for biogas boosting and enhanced nutrient

recycling is now being utilized by customers,” says Gunnel Hagstam, M&I Applications. In this article, we present two case stories describing how the

Kemira treatments work in practice at a customer.

NSR is a progressive waste recycling company which is owned by the six municipalities of Hels-ingborg, Höganäs, Ängelholm, Bjuv, Båstad, and Åstorp located in southern Sweden. The company has been a leader in sustainable waste manage-ment with the aim being to minimize waste going to landfill via a closed cycle, based on high levels of reuse and recycling.

Through various initiatives carried out in its own R&D group, and in combination with part-ners, NSR has been active in numerous areas of sustainable waste management including wastehandling from local communities and industry, heat production, biogas production, recyclingand landfill.

At its main site in Helsingborg, NSR has since 1996 been operating a biogas plant that has suc-cessively been expanded so that today it handles 70,000 tons annually of organic substrate consist-ing of about 60–70% food industry and slaugh-terhouse waste, 20–30% food waste from house-holds and 10% manure. It is a full circle process with energy in the form of biogas being extracted from the substrate and the digestate that remains being used as a biofertilizer on agricultural farms.

For biogas production, the goal in 2012 is to make four million Nm3 of upgraded gas. Of this, about 25% is sold as vehicle fuel at the NSR filling station, and the remainder is fed into thelocal natural gas network.

CHALLENGE NSR has big future plans to expand biogas production in several ways, including a doubling of the biogas plant capacity with a new digester. This would mean upgraded gas would go from four to eight million Nm3, or from 40 GWh to 80 GWh.

irene bohn, a research scientist in NSR’s Biogas R&D department, says there is presently work underway to identify the best alternatives to achieve this big jump in energy production.

“We are actively looking at ways to accomplish this, with the aim to get the best utilization of all the resources we have for the most beneficial envi-ronmental effects.”

SOLUTION One way in which NSR has already squeezed more biogas out of its existing plant is through the use of a biogas digestion treat-ment based on Kemira BDP technology. This has allowed NSR to get approximately 33% higher organic loading rate (OLR) and more upgraded biogas out of the plant.

Kemira BDP is a patented technology, based on the combination of iron, acid and trace elements used specifically for boosting the biogas produc-tion. Essentially Kemira BDP provides nutri-tional supplements for the bacteria, tailored to different substrates. The BDP treatment increases the amount of methane-forming bacteria, cre-ates a more stable process and reduces the H2S level which allows a higher digester load as well as improved biogas yield.

RESULTS “Before we started the BDP treatment,” explains Irene Bohn, “we couldn’t get the high OLR that we wanted. If we tried to put more sub-strate through the process we got increased levels of volatile fatty acids (VFA) and the process would become unstable. But after we added the BDP-825 the VFA decreased and we could increase OLR from approximately 3 to 4 kg VS/m3 day. This also resulted in much more biogas being pro-duced and eliminated problems with VFA inter-mediates. In addition, the process is much more stable now, which allows us to take in a wider variety of feed substrate.”

marcus möller, NSR’s process engineer responsible for operations, agrees that the addi-tive has helped operations.

“We now have much greater flexibility in the process, as it is far less sensitive to changes and possible upsets. We can therefore make changes in the incoming feed, taking in all different waste streams, with low risk of instability. Also, when we are doing mechanical maintenance and need to shut down, we can start up again much more rap-idly. So the whole line is more robust and tolerates variations and swings much better.”

CASE 1: NSR

• The Kemira BDP technol-ogy increases the amount of methane-form-ing bacteria, creates a more stableprocess and reduces H2S levels.

• With the BDP treatment, the customer has been able to improve its digester capac-ity and achieve a higher organic loading rate (OLR).

• BDP has also resulted in a more robust process with a larger oper-ating window for greater var-iation in sub-strate compo-sition and feed rate.

3FACTS

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AT YOUR SERVICE

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Veikko Nyyssönen (above) from Kouvolan Vesi, Finland, as well as Marcus Möller (left) and Irene Bohn from NSR, Sweden, have intensively worked with Kemira for improving the process of biogas production.

• With Kemira’s digestate treatment, the biogas plant is able to recy-cle part of the reject water, which leads to savings.

• The two plants are able to keep their limits as agreed in their permits.

• The treat-ment enables the two plants to continue full operation without any disturbances.

3FACTS

K E M I R A S T A K E H O L D E R M A G A Z I N E • 2 5

By the River Kymi in Kouvola, Finland, a new biogas plant has been built next to a wastewa-ter treatment plant (WWTP). The two plants are each other’s customers, and pipelines link their processes together.

“We produce enriched sludge, which the biogas plant uses as a raw material. We process the reject water produced by the biogas plant,” says Opera-tions Technician veikko nyyssönen from Kou-volan Vesi, the local waterworks.

The sludge coming from the WWTP is trans-ferred through a piping system to the biogas plant. After a first dewatering step, increasing the sludge concentration from 4% to 20%, the sludge is mixed with further substrates. Out of this mix-ture, biogas is produced using a thermophilic pro-cess. The resulting sludge is disinfected thermally and dewatered in order to be used as soil condi-tioner in accordance to the Fertilizer Product Act. The reject water from the dewatered sludge is returned to be processed at the WWTP.

CHALLENGE The expansion of the WWTP was still in progress at the time the biogas plant was already completed. During the start-up of the biogas plant, thus the reject water needed to be treated in the old plant, which did not have suffi-cient capacity.

“As a result, the reject water from the biogas plant was very high in nutrients, and the biogas plant was not able to accommodate all of the sludge that we produced. For this reason, unfortu-nately, we were not always able to comply with the emission limits set out in our environmental per-mit,” says Nyyssönen.

According to Plant Manager kimmo räsänen, the biogas plant aims to use the reject water from the digested sludge – which represents about

20–25% of all reject water – for its own processes, meaning that its treatment causes no additional costs.

“We try to keep the amount of solids in the reject water as low as possible, because this allows us to keep the negative effect on processes and equipment at both plants as low as possible. How-ever, other nutrients become concentrated when water is recycled, and we need to add clean raw water to the process in some cases,” says Räsänen.

The high suspended solid content of the reject water made the recycling of it at the biogas plant not possible.

SOLUTION The situation stabilized after Kemira tailored a treatment for the dewatering of sludge from the digestion process. The development of such tailor-made treatment was possible due to Kemira’s deep application know-how and broad portfolio. They supply the biogas plant with a treat-ment to achieve optimal dewatering of the sludge and reject water quality.

“Kemira ran tests for us to improve the qual-ity of the reject water. On their recommendation, we decided to try their concept that improves the quality of reject water from digested sludge, par-ticularly in terms of solid content. That made a considerable difference,” says Räsänen.

RESULTS With the support of Kemira, the two plants are now able to run cost neutral since the biogas plant is now capable to balance its load by making use of the low flow rates at the wastewa-ter treatment plant at weekends. Moreover, the wastewater treatment plant is meeting its dis-charge limits, which are 0.5 mg/l for phosphorus, 10 mg/l for BOD and 15 mg/l for suspended sol-ids (SS).

BIOGAS produced from organic waste streams is growing in importance as demand for renewa-ble energy constantly increases. Biogas is gaining ground as a promising form of renewable energy

used to generate electricity, heat and make biofuels. Focus on climate change and the need to minimize organic waste in landfills has led to an increasing interest for biogas production. The production pro-

cesses of biogas present numerous challenges as each plant is unique with different needs depending on the substrate composition, digestion technology, digestate treatment and gas utilization.

CASE 2: KOUVOLAN VESI

Kemira’s customers will benefit from the new competency gathered by a group of employees on a learning program that combined practical learning, classroom meetings, and sharing experiences.

EUREKA!

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K E M I R A S T A K E H O L D E R M A G A Z I N E • 2 7

MORE than half of the paper industry’s output is used to make packaging materials. The demand for packaging materials made from wood fiber is increa-sing. The need to save costs and protect the environ-

ment has prompted manufacturers to create lighter fiber-based packaging materials.The global output of the paper industry was about 400 million tons in 2011. The fiber-based packaging

industry represented 205 million tons of the total. The totals for cartonboard, container board and spe-cial board were 51 million, 138 million, and 16 mil-lion tons, respectively.

A paperboard machine in Karlstad – the “paper prov-ince” of Sweden – is making packaging materi-als. Around the pilot machine, a group of Kemira employees are making technical adjustments and watching how the combined effect of mechanical processes and chemicals is producing the desired result.

Learning is a continuous process, as is strength-ening old skills. Kemira’s employees develop their competencies through modern technology, by shar-ing experiences and by walking a mile in the cus-tomer’s shoes.

“The participants come from different mar-ket areas around the world, which enables them to share their specific expertise with colleagues from other areas,” says mats rönnbäck, Senior Vice Pres-ident, Packaging & Board.

The program started with two online learning meet-ings, also known as webinars. After that, the partic-ipants studied independently and took a test. Then they gathered in Karlstad for classroom training and practical learning for four days, where they also had an opportunity to make paperboard in a real-life environment on a pilot board machine. Finally, they

learned about paper physics and important qual-ity parameters by doing the laboratory testing of the board produced on the pilot machine.

During the program, the participants learned in practice what customers need and how Kemira can help them optimize their production processes and board quality, and thereby also profitability.

“Local expertise may help us respond to custom-ers’ challenges in many locations around the world,” says pia tapio, Senior Manager, People & Organiza-tional Development.

The participants included application specialists and sales personnel from Kemira’s Paper segment. They were taught by in-house sales and application specialists as well as experts from The Packaging Greenhouse, a research and training company based in Karlstad, Sweden. The combination of class-room training and hands on practical work on the pilot machine and in the laboratory was very highly appreciated by the participants.

“To ensure the breadth and depth of training, we had both internal and external instructors. In addi-tion, the participants contributed to the content of the program by sharing experience and best prac-tices,” says Rönnbäck.

Twenty-eight Kemira employees have gatheredaround a paperboard machine to learn about

customers’ processes in practice.T E X T J O H A N N A P A A S I K A N G A S - T E L L A · P H O T O S Ø Y V I N D L U N D

A mi le in the

CUSTOMER’S SHOES

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EUREKA!

2012 is the yearof the dragon in the Chinese horoscope.

K E M I R A S T A K E H O L D E R M A G A Z I N E • 2 9

”Thought we may not see the double digit growth rates of the recent past, the paper industry in China is still expected to see sustained growth for the next 10-15 years,” says harri eronen, Director, Paper Applications, for Kemira APAC.

China has gone from being a net importer of paper to a net exporter. Par-ticularly the production of packag-ing and brown board grades has been increasing to keep up with the growing worldwide consumer industry.

“But with the improving standard of living around the world, the predictions are that actually tissue grades will be the fastest growing, perhaps as much as 20 percent annually,” notes Eronen.

Paper production needs water. It is a thirsty process. Water sustainability is becoming a major challenge for the Chi-nese paper industry because two of the three areas where paper mills are con-centrated either have a shortage of water or the water tariffs are very high.

“They are constantly looking at new ways to do more with less water,” says Eronen. “And as paper mills turn to recycling and reuse, water quality also becomes a priority.”

One of the biggest Chinese paper pro-ducers has its own state-of-the-art water treatment facilities in southern China alongside its paper mills. This really is a cost driver for them; it is more econom-ical to reuse water using their own treat-ment facility than look for sources of

new water.The treatment facility handles influ-

ent, process water, and effluent with the aim to recycle as much of the water as possible. Water reuse can create new challenges for the chemistries, though. The closed water cycles tend to increase the temperature of the water, which changes the behavior of the chemicals.

Shandong province in northeastern China is home to several major paper mills. Here, too, fresh water is scarce. They have to drill a kilometer down to get any ground water. At that depth, the water starts to get salty, so quality of the influent becomes yet another hurdle.

One of the main goals of recycling water is to reduce the total amount of efflu-ent. The discharge carries high concen-trations of organic matter that can lower the level of dissolved oxygen. Without adequate oxygen, many forms of aquatic life would suffocate.

As paper producers focus their atten-tion on better water solutions, Kemira is ready to help. Eronen reports: “We have important cases with some mills in the south of China that needed to treat and recycle their water. We are optimizing the water use paper process as well as minimizing effluent into the river.”

“One of these cases has even been nominated for a water efficiency award,” he continues. “We have helped them achieve excellent fresh water manage-ment, reducing consumption from 10

m3/ton to 8 m3/ton. And the future tar-get is 6 m3/ton within three years.”

Kemira is busy developing products spe-cifically for the market in China. Eronen emphasizes the need for new products:

“Our products must perform under the unique conditions in China. For instance, the fibers in China have usually been recycled five or six times, whereas in Europe we see fibers recycled once or twice. The higher the recycle rate, the more contaminants we see in the pulp.”

Tailoring is also about localizing. Raw materials should be locally sourced for local production. That is why Kemi-ra’s new Nanjing site is going to be an important asset in serving the China paper industry. Eronen explains:

“We will be able to manufacture a wide range of products in Nanjing using local raw materials. This includes Kemi-ra’s ASA (alkenyl succinic anhydride) products that make paper more water resistant, important for many packag-ing applications, as well as improve the printability of paper. Kemira is the first to establish a site in Asia for producing ASA products.”

Particularly in China, key to a strong relationship is the ability to offer prod-ucts made in China.

“They also like to work with us because we can guarantee quality,” adds Eronen. “Our quality is excellent, and more importantly, consistent. Customers really appreciate that.”

Paper giant

With a total paper production capacity of 100 million tons a year, China has surpassed North America and is still growing. Such rapid growth puts added strain on water resources and demands better water solutions.T E X T R A N D E L W E L L S · I L L U S T R A T I O N C A J S A H O L G E R S S O N

WE PROUDLY PRESENT

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Shoes, belts, handbags, jackets, gloves, car seats – the list of items crafted from leather is long. The characteristics of real leather are hard to beat. But they would mean nothing without the tanning process.

The age old practice of tanning is what makes leather so durable. Tan-ning stabilizes the internal structure of the leather, preventing the natu-ral proteins from decomposing over time.

For decades, mineral tanning has been the predominate technology in the leather industry. Over 100 years ago, chromium was introduced as an alternative to traditional tan-ning agents. Today, 90 per cent of the world’s leather is chrome tanned.

This is a problem. It has been known for a long time that chro-mium is toxic and a potential haz-ard to both humans and the environ-ment.

“And this leads to a second issue,” adds pekka johnsson, Sr. Man-ager, Business Development & Sales, ChemSolutions. “The leather tanning industry is one of the most water intensive industries in the world.”

But tanners have put up with the high costs of chromium waste and wastewater disposal because there has not been a better alternative. That is, until now.

Kemira Tanfor T is a game changer, delivering great performance on many levels. Development in a joint effort by Kemira’s segment ChemSo-lutions in Tiel, the Netherlands, and the R&D center in Espoo, Tanfor T

is free of chromium, aldehydes, and other agents that create unwanted, expensive side-effects for tanners.

The Tanfor T chemistry is based on the aluminum and silicon, both elements naturally occurring in the environment. These and other more sustainable components give Tanfor T excellent green credentials.

Tanfor T decreases the costs of solid and liquid waste streams for tanners. Due to the effective tanning action, a very high portion of the Tanfor T is fixed in the leather. The remaining amount in the tanning bath poses no threat to the environ-ment, and the water is easier to treat.

Also, many tanners struggle with color. The whiteness produced by Tanfor T is exceptionally clean and bright.

Where other chromium-free tan-ning agents have limitations, Tanfor T has none. stefan van der burgh, Application Manager, ChemSolu-tions, says, “Tanfor T is ideal for any leather application, be it shoes, auto interiors, upholstery or garments. The Tanfor T system has been exten-sively tested. Tanners can adopt Tan-ner T without having to make any major adjustments to their process.”

Tanfor T will be officially launched at the 2012 Tanning Tech show in Bologna, Italy.

“This is going to be a big, impor-tant launch for ChemSolutions,” says Johnsson. “We have many exciting activities planned to bring this great product to the world market.”

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A tanning revolution

K E M I R A S T A K E H O L D E R M A G A Z I N E • 3 1

The wood pitch in chemical and mechani-cal pulp and the stickies in recycled fiber and broke create all sorts of problems in paper machines. These hydropho-bic particles may accumulate and cre-ate deposits, compromising process effi-ciency and the quality of the end pro-duct. Controlling the quantity and size of these particles is important in maxi-mizing quality and the ability of the machines to run.

“KemFlite is a concept that pools together a range of Kemira products and our process know-how in a consol-idated package, directly addressing the problems customers have with deposit control in paper machines,” says chris lewis, Manager, Technical Applications, Kemira Paper.

“A key part of the process know-how that we are leveraging with KemFlite is

our ability to accurately measure what is happening in the process,” he continues. “We do this with the Kemira Flyto and AutoFlite.”

Flyto is a powerful tool for monitor-ing and analyzing exactly what is hap-pening in the customer’s process. It can also determine how varying dosages of different Kemira products will affect unit processes in paper and paperboard machines.

“This tool really helps us optimize what we are doing and proves the bene-fits to customers with concrete measure-ments,” adds Lewis.

The next step in the development is an online measurement tool called Auto-Flite, which can be installed directly on site and offers continuous, real-time measurement.

“We are moving the lab now to the front line of production with Auto-Flite, giving us better reaction times and opening up opportunities for better opti-mization,” explains Lewis.

“We have also been able to use Auto-Flite as an online fixative dosage con-troller,” notes henri villanen, Senior Specialist at Kemira Paper. “We can use the measurement signal from AutoFlite to precisely control how much fixative is used. This way, underdosing and over-dosing situations are easily avoided.”

Flyto gives a very complete snapshot of the process at a given time. AutoFlite provides a continuous view of the pro-cess. The AutoFlite measurements are sent over the Internet to Kemira appli-cation experts for analysis.

randel wells

Keeping it clean

KEMIRA has developed dozens of products for solving the issues pulp and paper customers face. A broad portfolio com-bined with deep knowledge from hands-on application expe-rience is a winning combination. With the help of Kemira’s

KemFlite concept, customers can reach higher machine effi-ciencies and leverage advanced real-time measurements, improved process and material efficiency, improved paper quality and decreased machine downtime.

KEM

IRA

Contaminants can be a headache for paper machines, but with Kemira’s new KemFlite concept, the remedies are right at hand.

3 2 • W A T E R L I N K 2 • 2 0 1 2

NUMEROLOGY

Kemira published its Q2 2012 financial data on July 26. Com-pared to the analyst expecta-tions, the second quarter num-bers did not offer a big drama. Kemira’s Q2 revenue was slightly better and operative EBIT some 4% lower than expected. In the Paper segment, as well as in Municipal & Industrial, sales volumes recovered slightly compared to the first quarter. Fixed costs, however, continued to increase and resulted in a decrease in the operative EBIT.

Kemira retained its guidance for the full year. In 2012, Kemira expects the revenue and operative EBIT to be approximately at the level of 2011.

The unexpected news of the day was the announced global restructuring program “Fit for Growth”. The announcement came slightly earlier and the magnitude was somewhat larger than ana-lysts had anticipated.

In recent quarters, Kemira’s

growth and operative EBIT have not developed into the preferred direction. The Fit for Growth pro-gram was launched to improve the profitability and internal effi-ciency and to accelerate growth in emerging markets. The goal of the planned program is to reach Kemi-ra’s financial targets in an accel-erated mode. The revenue growth target for Kemira is above 3% in the mature and 7% in the emerg-ing markets, while the EBIT mar-gin target is at least 10%.

In the analyst interview on page 34, Markku Järvinen from EVLI Bank comments on his expec-tations for the current year.

Kemira’s Capital Markets Day will be held on September 18, 2012 in London, UK. The event is organized for analysts, pro-fessional investors and financial media. Kemira’s management will give presentations and have small group meetings. A link to the web-cast of the event will be available on www.kemira.com.

IT IS TIME TO GET FIT FOR GROWTH PRESS RELEASES

FEBRUARY 2012February 8 Kemira Oyj’s Financial Statements Bulletin 2011: Strong cash flow and earnings per share in 2011.

MARCH 2012

March 19 Kemira establishes a new share-based incentive plan for the strategic management mem-bers.

March 21 Kemira’s AGM: Jukka Viinanen elected as new chairman of the Board of Directors, dividend proposal of EUR 0.53 approved.

March 26 Kemira ChemSolutions an-nounces price increase for propionates and propionic acid contai-ning blends.

March 30 Kemira O&M segment announces price increase for water-soluble poly-mers globally.

March 30 Kemira M&I segment announces price increase for water-soluble poly-mers in EMEA.

APRIL 2012

April 11 Kemira will expand its hydrogen peroxide capacity in Fray Bentos.

April 24 Kemira Oyj’s Interim Report January-March 2012: Stable revenue and sales margin offset by higher fixed costs.

April 25 Kemira comments on the article on joint venture Sachtleben.

MAY 2012

May 2 Kemira estab-lishes local R&D in Alberta, Canada.

JUNE 2012

June 4 Kemira’s associated company

Sachtleben signs EUR 430 million credit facility.

June 11 Kemira’s associated company Sachtleben to acquire crenox titanium dioxi-de production assets and inventory.

JULY 2012

July 26 Kemira announces global restructuring program ”Fit for Growth” within the context of a new organization.

July 26 Kemira Oyj: New date for the Kemira Interim Report January-September 2012 and the financial reporting schedule for 2013.

AUGUST 2012

Aug 6 Kemira to start co-determination ne-gotiations in Finland

ALE

KSI

NIE

MEL

Ä

Tero Huovinen is Kemira’s Director, Investor Relations, t. +358 (0)50 4099 373

You can find the press and ana-lyst conference webcast of the January-June 2012 interim results on www.kemira.com/en/investors under Financial Information.

ROADSHOW CALENDARSeptember 19 FrankfurtSeptember 20 Vienna October 26 LondonOctober 30 ZurichNovember 8 ParisNovember 9 FrankfurtNovember 5 BostonNovember 6 New YorkNovember 20 EdinburghNovember 21 DublinNovember 26 CopenhagenNovember 27 OsloNovember 28 London

FINANCIAL CALENDARInterim Report January-September 2012 October 24, 2012

Financial results for the year 2012 February 6, 2013

Interim Report January-March 2013 April 23, 2013

Interim Report January-June 2013 July 23, 2013

Interim Report January-September 2013 October 22, 2013

The Annual General Meeting 2013is scheduled for Tuesday, March 26,2013 at 1.00 pm (CET+1).

K E M I R A S T A K E H O L D E R M A G A Z I N E • 3 3

MID TERM FINANCIAL TARGETS

KEY FIGURES

OWNERSHIP•Growthinrevenues Maturemarkets > 3% Emerging markets > 7%•Earningsbeforeinterestandtaxes(EBIT),%ofrevenue>10%

•CashflowafterCAPEXanddividend>€0M

•Gearing<60%

KEMIRA GROUP REVENUE EUR MILLION

OPERATIVE EBIT EUR MILLION

SHARE PRICE VS INDEX

Oras Invest Oy 18.2% Solidium Oy 16.7% Varma 7.5% Ilmarinen 5.2% Other Finnish inst. 20.7%

Non-Finnish owners, incl. nominee-registered institutions 12.7%

Households 16.9% Kemira 2.1%

Q110 Q210 Q310 Q410 Q111 Q211 Q212Q112Q411Q311

Q110 Q210 Q310 Q410 Q111 Q211 Q212Q112Q411Q311

580

560

540

520

500

480

460

45

40

35

30

25

20

15

MEUR 1-6 2012 1-6 2011

Revenue 1,115.2 1,105.6

Operative EBIT

73.9 82.2

OperativeEBIT, %

6.6 7.4

EPS (EUR) 0.39 0.44

CapEx excl. Acquisitions

70.4 34.5

Cash flow after investments

16.1 85.9

Gearing, %, end of period

44 37

Equity ratio, %, end of period

52 55

Personnel, end of period

5,181 5,065

100%

0%

2009 2010 2011 2012

RECOMMENDATIONS ON KEMIRA SHARES

Q3Q2Q1Q3 Q4 Q1 Q3Q2 Q4 Q1 Q3Q2 Q4

Buy Hold Sell

January 2011 August 2012

120

100

80

60

Kemira  OMX Helsinki

NUMEROLOGY

ANALYST ESTIMATES POST Q4 2010 - POST Q2 2012

Sales FY  2012  2013  2014 Operative EBIT=%, FY  2012  2013  2014

Disclaimer: The data in the graphs has been issued by Vara Research GmbH for information purposes only and is not intended to constitute investment advice. It is based on estimates and forecasts of various analysts regarding revenues, earnings and business developments of the relevant company. The company did not participate in the compilation of the estimates and it does not endorse them. Such estimates and forecasts cannot be independently verified by reason of the subjective character. Vara Research GmbH gives no guarantee, representation or warranty and is not responsible or liable as to its accuracy and completeness.

2/11 4/11 5/11 7/11 8/11 10/11 11/11 1/12 2/12 4/12 5/12 7/12 8/12

250024502400235023002250220021502100

2/11 4/11 5/11 7/11 8/11 10/11 11/11 1/12 2/12 4/12 5/12 7/12 8/12

8.85%

8.35%

7.85%

7.35%

6.85%

3 4 • W A T E R L I N K 2 • 2 0 1 2

What is your first impression of Kemira’s new CEO, Wolfgang Büchele?As a former member of the board Mr Büchele comes in with consid-erable understanding of Kemira. He also has a career history in the global chemicals industry. On the other hand, he has no experience as a CEO of a listed company. In our view, it was a good decision to bring in somebody who understands the chemicals business on a broader scale rather than go with a Finnish CEO from a different business.

Can Kemira achieve the financial tar-gets set in its Fit for Growth program?The primary target is an EBIT mar-gin of 10%. Kemira’s EBIT margin has been 7.0-7.5% for the last three years, and we expect improvement to 9% by 2014.

Can it meet the guidance for 2012?We think so. Lower raw material costs will support earnings in H2. We also expect losses in other oper-ations to mitigate in H2.

The most interesting business in Kemi-ra’s portfolio?Oil & Mining has the highest mar-gins and the best outlook of Kemi-ra’s businesses. Over time oil and minerals become scarcer and more difficult to extract and need for chemicals in the process increases.

What in your opinion are Kemira’s strengths in growing Asian markets?Asian markets and China in partic-ular are challenging. While growth in the markets is rapid, also compe-tition is fierce. Kemira’s opportuni-ties in Asia will not be in commodi-ties or bulk chemicals but rather in specialised products and solutions.

What is essential for Kemira when looking at the paper industry?For Kemira’s Paper business the issue, rather than global growth, will be Kemira’s production assets serving the Nordic industry and issues relating to its future. Much of Kemira’s asset base in Paper serves the Nordic industry.

Q&A: Markku Järvinen, Evli Bank PlcA financial analyst presents his view on Kemira in each issue of WaterLink.

AN

TTI

VET

TEN

RA

NTA

BUBBLING UNDER

K E M I R A S T A K E H O L D E R M A G A Z I N E • 3 5

Q&A: Markku Järvinen, Evli Bank PlcA financial analyst presents his view on Kemira in each issue of WaterLink.

Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) is the global platform for the sharing and co-creation of innovative water solu-tions. SIWW 2012 was held on July 1–5 and themed ”Water Solutions for Live-able and Sustainable Cit-ies“.

The event attracted 18,554 participants from 104 countries. Kemira was proud to present seven water treatment solu-tions in the poster session at SIWW:

• Organic Peracids For Advanced Wastewater Treatment

• In-Situ Landfill Leach-ate Control By Chemi-cal Application

• Desinfix 135 For Waste Water Treatment In Oil Refinery

• How To Make The Drinking Water Safe - Method For Arsenic Removal

• Filterability Enhance-ment through Addi-tives Dosing: Compari-son between Common MBR Sludge and Bulk Sludge

• New method to evalu-ate the performance of antiscalant for retard-ing RO scaling

• Digital Imaging Tech-niques To Measure Floc Properties In The Pre-treatment Stage Of An Ro Desalination Plant

Kemira harmonized the names of 600 products on September 1, 2012. The company has also adopted consistent product name practices and strengthened its brand and operating methods.

Kemira’s product names have become inconsistent as a result of acquisitions, with some products being available under several different names. The purpose of the harmoniza-tion project is to assign consist-ent names to all products. In the first stage, the harmoniza-tion will mainly concern paper industry chemicals. About 1,000 customers and 90 pro-duction plants will be affected.

At Kemira, the project is headed by arja vanhanen, Director, Product Marketing.

“An efficient global company cannot afford to have several local or sector-specific names for a single product. The new names were adopted at the beginning of September. We understand that this will cause inconvience to our custom-ers, as they will have to learn the new names and adjust their order systems accordingly,” she says.

In the chemical industry, product name changes are never uncomplicated. Each product is required to have a product data safety sheet—without one, the product is not allowed to be sold.

Kemira began informing its customers about the changes in June. Within the company, the project was launched two years ago. In 2010, Kemira established new rules to ensure consist-

ent product names. The company will increas-ingly use product names beginning with Fenno, Kem and Kemira.

“Some of our products will be sold under their chemical composition names. These products will have English names,” says Vanhanen.

Changes in product names pre-sent risks, because the market is familiar with certain names. For this reason, the changes must be strongly supported by market-ing communications. Vanhanen believes that the project will even-tually improve Kemira’s visibility.

The sales organization will play an important role in introducing the new names.

“Our sales representatives will discuss any issues with each cus-tomer and make sure that the changes can be implemented within the agreed time frame,” says nichlas kavander, Vice Presi-dent, Sales EMEA, Paper.

The changes will also bring ben-efits.

“The changes require a great deal of work right now. In the future, however, consistent product names will make things easier for us and

our customers. Order processing and product portfolio management will be smoother. In addition, product registrations will require less work than they do now. I strongly believe that the input will pay off as a result of reduced workload with time,” says Vanhanen.

The project continues, and all product names are targeted to be harmonized by the end of 2013.

sirkku saariaho

Successful SIWWNew product names

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New

STRUCT URES

K E M I R A S T A K E H O L D E R M A G A Z I N E • 3 7

Kemira is facing a new era of more intense competition in the water business, says Wolfgang Büchele, president and CEO.T E X T H E L E N M O S T E R ∧ P H O T O S P E R T T U S A K S A

STRUCT URES

AVEC

3 8 • W A T E R L I N K 2 • 2 0 1 2

“It is not enough that we know what to do. We must also know what not to do.”

Wolfgang Büchele, 53, new President and CEO of Kemira, is not your run-of-the-mill business execu-tive. He was born in a small town in southern Ger-many, but he sees himself as a global citizen.

He also has a coaching approach to leadership. Instead of giving orders, he wants to work in the back-ground as a coach, creating opportunities and encour-aging people to take responsibility for achieving com-mon goals. He wants employees to make decisions on their own rather than follow orders from above.

“One of the key things is empowerment. I trust people and I don’t have to constantly control people. My role is to enable the team to play well together and win.”

Perhaps most importantly, this jovial coach knows what he is – and what he is not. He also has a clear vision of the company’s future.

“Kemira must grow, improve its profitability and secure its future. This is the only way to succeed.”

One of Kemira’s goals is to develop into a genu-inely global company. “Not at any price, though,” says Büchele, who holds a PhD in chemistry and has carved out a long career in the field.

The young Wolfgang learned to change with the times at home. He learned much from his father, an entre-preneur in construction and real estate who was quick to start businesses – but equally quick to close them if they turned out to be unprofitable. Büchele learned more about the art of letting go when studying chemistry in Ulm.

“A new material may seem fantastic, but if it has no market, it is probably a fairly useless invention.”

The same applies to business life. “In chemical research, I try to see whether it will produce inno-vations,” Büchele explains. “You have to listen care-fully to your customers and markets, focus on your strengths and be able to re-invent yourself. Being innovative is part of the recipe for success.”

Büchele is very familiar with Kemira’s ongoing research projects. Kemira has high expectations for polymers, which are being studied at the Center of Water Efficiency Excellence, also known as SWEET.

“We are in the process of developing new poly-mers for the paper industry to reduce the amount of coating agents needed. These polymers will decrease costs and energy consumption and benefit the paper industry in many other ways.”

Eventually, technologies run their course. Büchele gives cassette tapes as an example. They were replaced by CD and DVD discs made of polycarbon-

ate. Chemical manufacturers increased their capaci-ties, but then MP3 players conquered the market.

Suddenly, companies needed to come up with new uses for polycarbonate. “Proactive companies suc-ceeded, but those who responded too late paid a high price.”

Büchele never wants to see Kemira in such a situa-tion. The signs must be detected in time.

This global citizen from southern Germany did not expect to become the CEO of a Finnish company. He began his career in chemistry as a researcher in 1987 and eventually became the head of the Fine Chemi-cals unit of his company, the chemistry giant BASF. His home was where his work was: in Germany, Hong Kong and in many hotels around the world.

“I love big cities, particularly Hong Kong,” Büchele says with a laugh, pointing at a panorama of his favorite city on the wall in his office. The cityscape is far away from his current home Helsinki.

Asia left its mark on Büchele’s business thinking. He has seen European companies transfer their oper-ations to Asia without having the knowledge or cour-age to give up their established European business model. Many companies have collapsed after trying to operate on both fronts with the same approach.

Büchele learned that it is no use fighting market trends. Companies must adapt and draw conclusions about the effects of the changes on their operations.

He witnessed the rapid growth of the Chinese economy between 1993 and 1997. Companies were established and closed, whichever happened to be necessary, at a breathtaking pace.

“If a company stopped, even for a moment, it began to lose its position.”

Büchele intends to apply what he learned to Kemira. To secure jobs in the future, growth is a pre-requisite.

Büchele began his work as the President and CEO of Kemira in April. He has 25 years’ experience of the chemical industry and has spent most of his career, from 1993 until 2007 in BASF holding a number of positions with business experience in Europe, Asia, United States and South America.

His wife and son moved to Finland in the summer. His son has enrolled in the German School of Helsinki. His daughter is studying chemistry in Mainz, Germany.

Büchele has been a member of Kemira’s Board of Directors since 2009, so he was familiar with Fin-land.

• A book that teaches us to think in new ways?The Art of War by Sun Tzu. The best book about strategic thinking.

• Your favorite travel desti-nation?Europe. It is clean and sys-tematic, and everything works well.

• Your most interesting experience in chemistry?An accidental explosion dur-ing my doc-toral studies.

• Diving is a family hobby for you. What is your favorite desti-nation?The Red Sea. One of the most beauti-ful diving loca-tions I’ve ever seen.

• What is your best way to relax?Doing some-thing. I never get stressed.

5FACTS

K E M I R A S T A K E H O L D E R M A G A Z I N E • 3 9

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When starting in his job, Büchele engaged in profound and extensive discussions with employees. His first observation was that people are very skilled, commit-ted to the water strategy and have high energy-level.

“It was also clear that we need to make the strategy more tangible to everybody by sharpening it”.

He also made two other observations: Kemira’s organization is very complex, and decision-making is very much centralized in Helsinki.

“We all agree that we have to improve our inter-nal efficiency and profitability, and accelerate growth where the water-related market is growing”.

Launched in July, the Fit for Growth program aims to deliver this by simplifying the organizational struc-ture, reducing organizational layers and by placing substantial responsibility into the regions.

“An organization must be able to adapt quickly to market changes,” Büchele explains. “Centrally gov-erned organizations are slow. Through the Fit for Growth program, we will build an organization based on the principles of entrepreneurship. Responsibil-ity will lie with local business units, which will also be able to respond more quickly to market expectations.”

Kemira will start to implement the new organiza-tion in October. The company will be divided into four segments: Paper, Municipal & Industrial, Oil & Mining and ChemSolutions. The key goal is to fur-ther improve Kemira’s customer orientation.

There will be increased focus on regional organi-zation and better fulfilling of customer needs by hav-ing R&D as well as application and business develop-ment closer to the customers. The four segments will serve their customers independently under the stra-tegic guidance of the head office in Helsinki.

Changes require everyone to learn new things. “Employees must educate themselves,” Büchele emphasizes. “Otherwise, we will lose our competi-tive ability.” He continues: “It is important that all employees understand why changes are needed.”

For this reason, communication is crucial on all levels, in all directions. More extensive training must be provided for employees, and people must engage

in interaction across traditional boundaries.

Big cities are where Büchele feels most in touch. He can see the future needs of the world and new oppor-tunities for Kemira. The population of the world will increase, as will energy consumption. The need for water management will skyrocket in China, among other places, where the middle class is growing stronger and urbanization continues at a rapid pace.

“We must sharpen our strategy,” he states.” It is not enough that we know what to do. We must also know what not to do.”

Kemira intends to increase its business operations in Asia and South America. Should it also launch operations in the Australian mining business, where competition is intense – or should it set its sights on raw materials in Africa? These are some of the ques-tions Büchele will ponder with his employees in the near future.

In addition, emerging markets offer promising business opportunities. One of these opportunities is related to membranes used in desalination plants, as chemicals can increase the useful life of membranes.

“Membranes will play an increasingly impor-tant role in water reuse and the production of drink-ing water,” Büchele explains. “This is why Kemira is investing heavily in research on chemicals needed for cleaning membranes.”

Kemira has world-leading water expertise. How-ever, its competitors are also tapping into new oppor-tunities in the water business.

“Kemira is an excellent company, and we must work hard to keep it that way. We must monitor mar-kets on the ground, so that we identify new players early enough.”

In 2012 and 2013, Kemira will strengthen its posi-tion in China, Germany and Spain, where it will launch new production plants.

Step by step, Wolfgang Büchele will take Kemira closer to being a genuinely global company.

K E M I R A S T A K E H O L D E R M A G A Z I N E • 4 1

COMPANIONS

ADAM MCCLYMONT The new Spokane County Water Reclama-tion Facility has one of the most stringent combined nutri-ent limits in North America, limits that required a progres-sive approach to wastewater treatment.

Thanks to membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology the facility has a smaller footprint and is more effective at sol-ids removal than conventional clarification and filtration.

The bulk of phosphorus removal is accomplished by using ferric chloride in the chemically enhanced primary treatment system. The phos-phorus is then trimmed by dosing ferric chloride directly in front of the membranes.

The phosphorus limit is an average seasonal load-based limit from March to October when the river flow is lower and temperatures are higher. We expected to be able to sig-

nificantly decrease the dosage during winter, but when that was implemented last winter, we observed a nega-tive impact on membrane performance. Kemira has been invited to investigate both the ferric chloride impacts on membrane performance and also to jar test different poly-mers for dewatering.

4 2 • W A T E R L I N K 1 2 • 2 0 1 2

Saving Spokane waters MIKE COLLINS The new state-of-the-art MBR plant was built in order to achieve low levels of phosphorous removal, but even with top tier membrane technology, Kemira’s iron salts are needed to achieve their goals.

Kemira is the main manufacturer of iron salts in the area and has a good track record of success.

Although the membrane technology at the facility is one of the best available water purification technologies, there are certain limits to what it can do. Alone the technology can achieve low levels of nutrient removal but when the requirements are more stringent, the membrane filtration system needs assistance.

Our main goal is to use Kemira’s ferric chloride to ensure enough phosphorus is removed to meet these tough regu-lations. However, a secondary benefit that actually carries a lot of value is the impact the iron salts have on the mem-branes themselves. By adding ferric chloride directly to the membranes, we can help prevent clogging and improve flux.

The Spokane County Regional Water Reclamation Facility has received prompt chemical delivery service which is cru-cial because the process is dependent on a continuous fer-ric chloride feed. Kemira guarantees the supply and quality of the ferric chloride.

We always aim to be proactive in helping clients find solutions for challenges such as dewatering and nutrient removal.

At their new state-of-the-art water treatment facility, Spokane county meets strict phosphorous regulations utilizing application knowledge from Kemira. T E X T R A N D E L W E L L S • P H O T O S W I N N I W I N T E R M E Y E R & S C O T T M A R T I N E Z

”Kemira inves-tigates the ferric chloride impacts on membrane performance and tests differ-ent polymers for dewatering.”

K E M I R A S T A K E H O L D E R M A G A Z I N E • 4 3

DURING the summer months in Washington, U.S., the Spokane River and Lake Spokane have low dissolved oxygen (DO) levels. Low DO has an adverse affect on a variety of aquatic life. This is caused by oxygen-

consuming substances (BOD) and nutrients such as phosphorus. Facilities that discharge effluents into the river are required to have a permit which speci-fies limits for each pollutant.

Adam McClymont Adam is the Assis-tant Project Manager at the Spokane County Regional Water Rec-lamation Facility. He has an extensive back-ground in both biologi-cal and chemical waste-water treatment at facilities in the United States and Canada.

Mike CollinsKemira has been work-ing in the area for over ten years. On the back of this regional rela-tionship, Mike Collins, Senior Account Man-ager at Kemira, spear-headed efforts to find solutions for Spokane County’s new MBR facil-ity.

Wolfgang Büchele, President and CEO aims to sharpen Kemira’s strategy. Read Büchele’s interview on page 36.

Everyone’s Baltic SeaGetting people to discuss and preserve p. 6

More crop per dropIWMI wins the Stockholm Water Prize p. 8

Sustainable water innovationsThe demand for water grows in Asia p. 12

In this issue ...

“You have to listen carefully to your customers and markets, focus on

your strengths and be able to reinvent yourself. Being innovativeis part of the recipe for success.”