The history and present of Industrial Kokkola

Kemira and Outokumpu were strong players in Kokkola since the 1960s.There has been changes in the ownerships of the companies and new opportunities are looming around the next corner.

The Port of Kokkola is integrated to the industrial park, even though only a third of the goods shipped from the port originate from the factories in the area. One third consists of the transit traffic from Russia, while the rest comprises container traffic and general cargo.

The area boasts Finland's only all-weather terminal (AWT) where fright can be discharged and loaded under roof. One of the Port's main competitive advantages stems from good rail connections, combined with the fact that rail gauge in Finland is the same as in Russia and China.

The port and its connections to the rail network is KIP's main success factor. The access to qualified professionals in the region as well as investments in security and environment has also contributed to Kokkola's good reputation as a site for chemical production.

 One of the speakers 2014: Professor Johan Sjöblom (born in Pietarsaari) speaking at the Kokkola Material Week about a new paradigm in Water / Oil / Gas Separation Offshore. Department of Chemical Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim Norway

Johan Sjöblom has been Professor in surface and colloid chemistry and the Head of the Ugelstad Laboratory at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim from January 1^st 2002.

The present owners and big players at the Kokkola Industrial Park are:

•     Boliden: zinc, sulfuric acid (Boliden's zinc plant one of the largest in the world)
•     Feeport Cobalt: cobalt
•     Yara: feed phosphates, potassium sulfate
•     Woikoski: oxygen, nitrogen and argon gas, carbon dioxide
•     Air Liquid: oxygen, carbon dioxide
•     Tetra: calcium chloride
•     Nordkalk: lime
•     CABB: organic fine chemicals
•     Kokkola Power: electricity, heat, steam
•     Kokkolan Voima: electricity, district heating

Analyzing Kokkola Material Week 2014

Why did we go?  We wanted to know. KIP - the Kokkola Industrial Park - is the largest manufacturing site of inorganic chemicals in the Nordic region. Impressive, sure, we wanted to find out more about Kokkola, its research and development, scientific goals, future plans, and analyze present problems and opportunities.

The companies in the area do annually invest 50 million € in modernizations.

Furthermore, a combined investment of more than 100 million € in new production facilities by a number of companies at the KIP area have been made.

KOKKOLA MATERIAL WEEK

The KMW 2014 material chemistry event was held for the second time. Experts from ten countries with scientific, industrial and administrative backgrounds got together to learn, discuss, and network about material science, metals, nanotechnology, biomass, recycling, industrial symbiosis, lithium and natural products.

During the 2'nd Material Week more than 50 experts were covering a rich assortment of themes:

•     biorefining
•     nanotechnology
•     sustainability
•     leather
•     metals
•     industrial symbiosis (networking and collaboration)
•     new technologies linked with business development

The session topics were dealing with futuristic point of views, catalysis, process intensification, biomass utilization, coating, REACH, LCA, industrial side streams, oil recovery and burgeoning lithium supplies from the region.