Outotec has purchased the assets of KALOGEO Anlagenbau GmbH in Leobersdorf, Austria after the company became insolvent. KALOGEO has provided solutions for biomass, sludge and waste water treatment and designed, built and operated several mid-size thermal sludge treatment plants based on fluidized bed technology. The transaction will not impact Outotec’s financial guidance for 2014.

Outotec plans to expand the acquired business to approximately EUR 15-20 million sales annually from 2016 onwards, including synergy benefits from more comprehensive product portfolio, larger customer base for service business and utilization of Outotec’s global sales and service network. Altogether five KALOGEO’s former employees will transfer to Outotec.

There is a growing demand worldwide for phosphates recycling and sustainable solutions for sewage sludge treatment. Outotec is currently designing and building large sewage sludge thermal treatment plants, for example the 100,000 t/a plant for the city of Zuerich in Switzerland. With the technology, knowhow and references of KALOGEO Outotec will expand its offering to small and medium-size sludge incineration plants. The KALOGEO technology also complements Outotec’s ASH DEC® technology acquired in 2011. The method is used to extract phosphorus fertilizer from ash produced in sludge incineration.

“The acquisition of KALOGEO Anlagenbau’s business supports our strategic target to expand to energy and industrial water treatment with high technological synergies. Energy production from biomass, sludge and waste in general is an interesting growth area for us. With our decades-long experience in developing fluidized bed technology and applications we can offer our customers sustainable solutions for turning waste to energy and valuable products and thus reduce environmental impacts such as greenhouse gas emissions”, says Outotec CEO Pertti Korhonen.