Gypsum board production at the Kankaanpää Knauf factory generates significant amounts of warm water vapour as a process by-product. Vatajankosken Sähkö developed a solution in which the process heat is recovered and fed via heat pumps into the supply water of the district heating network.

Ardor delivered over 50,000kilograms of stainless steel ducting with a 1,400 mm diameter between the factory and the new heat recovery plant. The ducting is a demanding undertaking in terms of both scale and material: large-diameter stainless steel ducting requires precise prefabrication and controlled installation.

The circular economy benefit is tangible: the recovered steam condenses into more than 30,000 cubic metres of water per year, which is returned to the factory as process water. The whole is an example of how industrial waste energy can be turned into a useful resource within the local energy system.

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