ESTONIA

Executive Summary

In the last years the development of non-food activities has decreased. The intentions to establish new bioplastics and biodiesel undertakings were not successful. The only potato starch undertaking has finished its operation. Flax is no longer grown since 2003; the last harvest was in 2002 (about 35 ha). The main reason for the end of the flax growing was the lack of a straw primary processing industry. But the primary processed fibre exported from Latvia, Lithuania and Belgium is still used as an industrial raw material for the production of textiles and insulation materials. The research in the related fields is finished.

This situation may be change in the future, if the rapeseed oil mill Werol Tehased make the investment to the biodiesel production, but this is only intention at this stage.

Oil Crops

The only oil crop currently grown for non-food purposes in Estonia is linseed. The area cultivated with linseed in 2003 was 85 ha with a total yield of 42 tonnes. 99% of this was used for the production of animal feed. About 500 kilos of linseed were pressed for selling into the chemistry industry as a personal care product. The surface coatings from linseed oil are imported.

Biodiesel: The Estonian Research Institute of Agriculture has researched the cost, cost-effectiveness and appropriate production technologies of biodiesel in 2001. The results of the study show that if the buying-in price of rapeseed is 0.2237-0.2429 EUR/kg then it isn’t possible to produce biodiesel with the cost price below 0.5432-0.6391 EUR/litre. However, if the price of rapeseed would be 0.1278-0.1598 EUR/kg then it would be profitable to produce biodiesel in Estonia if it is not taxed with excise duty. If the price of biodiesel would rise in Estonia to the level of Germany then it would be profitable to produce biodiesel even at the current prices of the rapeseed. 

During the study (described in this report) the original technology for the production of quality biodiesel from rapeseed was devised. In the former chemistry industry in Kiviõli, which now belongs to the company Alexela several tonnes of biodiesel, which meets the western standards, and B20 fuel, were produced from hot pressed rape oil according to the suggestions of the Prof. Leevi Mölder. These fuels were tested during the fall ploughing of AS RAUBRI (tractor Massey Fergusson). The tractor functioned well; no complications appeared with the engine and as compared to the fossil diesel fuel the fuel consumption did not increase while using biodiesel and B20 fuel during the fall ploughing. The tests will be continued in 2002. However, the production of the biodiesel did not begin. The main reasons were missing of the related laws (taxes and quality standards).

Fibre Crops

The only fibre plant grown in Estonia was the flax. Since 2003, flax is no longer grown. The calculation of the cost-effectiveness of flax growing and processing shows that the first processing undertakings need, for profitable production, the raw material in a big quantity from the proximate area. However, Estonian farmers are not able to make the required investments, which the flax growing technology in the outset phase needs. Flax was last grown in 2002 on about 35 hectares. To establish the new flax primary processing undertaking the minimum growing area must be about 1500 hectares within 50 km from the undertaking place.

Carbohydrate Crops

The main project of interest in the non-food field in Estonia was the biodegradable polymers. The researchers of the University of Tartu have synthesised biodegrading polymer optically clean isomers of lactic acid (PLA) with determined characteristics. The work conducted so far allows executing the entire PLA (poly lactate acid) production scheme as a continuous process, which is the precondition for the low cost price of PLA.

The usage of cereal for the production of plastics was developing in three directions:

1.      Adding starch and its modifiers to the petrochemically-produced plastics to increase their degradability in nature;

2.      Producing plastics and films from grain protein;

3.      Fermenting the sugar from starch into lactic acid and producing polylactate from it.

Thanks to the broad run possibilities (packages, tare, textile products, medicines etc) PLA is one of the most potential bioplastics. The synthesis of clean optical isomers necessary for the production of PLA is at present in the industrial sense possible only by microbic synthesis.

In 2001 OÜ Estbiotech started to construct a bioplastic production factory, which costs ca 115 million EUR, the execution of which was planned for 2004 and the production of which would increase Estonia’s economic independency. The technology for PLA has been patented in 86 countries all over the world. The patent is active for 15 years. OÜ Estbiotech, however, was voluntarily bankrupted in 2003 and the project ended. The realisation of this project would have meant the production of this environmentally friendly product and a big raw-material market for cereal growing farmers.

The only potato starch factory has finished the operation since 2003. It isn’t useful to produce in small quantities. As the specialists finds – the cost-effective production begins at 10,000 tonnes per year. The last production of the plant was 89 tonnes in 2002. Other types of starch (maize, barley, etc.) are not produced in Estonia.

Speciality Crops

Fennel, Hypericum, Melissa, Peppermint, Petroselina, Rosa, Taraxacum, Thymus and Valerian are grown in small areas for herbal health products. Most of herbs marketed as the health products are collected from wild nature.