Estonian Cell AS

The chancellor of the Ministry of the Environment, Meelis Münt, and the head of the Environmental Investment Center, Andrus Treier, today announced the most environmentally friendly company of the past year, which turned out to be Estonian Cell AS. The winner will receive up to 35,000 euros worth of support from the Environmental Investment Center to reduce their environmental footprint in the future as well.

Estonian Cell AS is the largest biogas producer in Estonia, which built a new aerobic wastewater treatment plant, which uses innovative coarse bubble technology, which ensures a more efficient cleaning process and cleaner waste water than before. At the same time, the new wastewater treatment plant provides significant savings in electricity.
According to the Minister of the Environment, Rene Koka, it makes everyone happy that the nominees chosen in January were all strong, and therefore it was not easy to find the winner. "Estonian Cell stood out for its consistency, it is a responsible company that is looking for new opportunities to operate in a more environmentally friendly way", the Minister of the Environment recognized the winner of the competition for the environmentally friendly company of the year.

"Estonian Cell is a good example of a large industrial company that makes significant investments to introduce environmentally friendly solutions," said Andrus Treier, head of KIK. "It is important to emphasize continuity - we recognized Estonian Cell with the same title in 2014 as well. Environmental protection encompasses many activities, from raising awareness to large-scale investments, which ultimately bring the greatest impact. A good example is Estonian Cell's recent remarkable investment in rebuilding the bleaching process and aerobic wastewater treatment system, which KIK also contributed to. We hope that the prize money accompanying the title will encourage the winner to continue with the same determination and will set a good example for other companies in their thorough understanding of environmental issues. We are waiting for everyone to participate in the competition next year!"

Estonian Cell produces biogas from wastewater using anaerobic wastewater treatment technology, which is a cutting-edge technology and an innovative solution next to wood pulp mills. It is Europe's largest biogas production reactor in one tank combined with an anaerobic treatment process. Biogas with a high methane content is fully used in the production of wood pulp, and it replaces a significant part of the natural gas previously purchased. Wastewater treatment takes place in an oxygen-free, i.e., anaerobic environment, which does not require a large amount of electricity and does not produce residual sludge, unlike an aerobic environment. A special anaerobic biogranule is used in the reactor, in which different types of bacteria decompose organic matter step by step into end products − CH4 and CO2. The processes produce valuable biogas with an average methane content of 75%.