Describing the product as sustainable SOP, Van Iperen said in its statement today that the technology was developed by Cinis. Around 200,000 tonnes per year of sodium sulphate salts recovered from the paper industry as well as Northvolt will be upcycled using “clean energy”. The process allows the recovery of water, heat, energy and other materials that would otherwise be unused.

“Cinis will build two fertilizer factories in northern Sweden, one in Örnsköldsvik and one in Skellefteå next to the Northvolt gigafactory, over the next four years for a total investment of 100 million Euro and with a maximum capacity of 300,000 mt SOP per year,” the statement read.

Van Iperen will be the exclusive marketer of the SOP product under its GreenSwitch brand. The first product is scheduled to be on the market for end of 2023.

Jakob Liedberg, CEO of CINIS said: “Fertilizers bring huge benefits to agriculture and society, but producing them is heavily dependent on fossil fuels. We are of course very happy to be able to partner with Northvolt as well as the paper industry on our mission to close the loop on recycling useful industrial waste from the Swedish core industries for the purpose of producing a fossil free high-quality fertilizer with significantly less negative climate impact than today’s standards.”