Van Iperen International and Cinis sign deal for sustainable fertilizer

Van Iperen International, a Dutch producer and marketer of specialty fertilizers, and Cinis Fertilizer, a Swedish cleantech startup, announced they have signed an exclusive agreement to produce and market sustainable and circular potassium sulfate (SOP) fertilizer based on salts that are recovered from the Swedish paper industry as well as from the newly-build battery manufacturer Northvolt.

The technology developed by Cinis ensures the smallest environmental footprint possible. 200,000 tons per year of sodium sulfate salts, which is recovered as a by-product by the paper industry as well as by Northvolt, will be upcycled with a close to zero carbon footprint, powered entirely by clean energy. Water, heat, energy, and other materials that would otherwise be wasted are also recovered and recirculated to make a clean and green mineral fertilizer.

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

Van Iperen International will be the exclusive marketer of this sustainable SOP under their umbrella product line GreenSwitch^®, which represents new fertilizer technologies with a close-to-zero carbon footprint. Earlier this year, they have also launched GreenSwitch Original potassium nitrate solution, which is derived from manure, with a first production plant in The Netherlands for which it has recently won several horticultural awards. The first GreenSwitch SOP is planned to be on the market at the end of 2023.

Erik van den Bergh, Managing Director of Van Iperen International commented: “In these challenging times, it is imperative that we build a more resilient agriculture. Growers demand new ways to increase food production and combat climate change at the same time. This sustainable potassium sulfate is part of the circular economy and produced with a close to zero carbon footprint, fits perfectly with our strategy to make a switch towards a green future”.

Jakob Liedberg, CEO of Cinis added: “Our partnership with Northvolt coupled with the long-term offtake agreement with Van Iperen International for the produced fertilizer will secure the future of our two factories.”