NPHarvest secures Business Finland funding to scale nutrient recovery from liquid waste

Finnish cleantech company NPHarvest has been selected for up to €1.2 million in funding from Business Finland’s Deep Tech Accelerator to support the scale-up of its nutrient recovery technology for liquid waste streams.

The phased funding will support continued development and commercialization of NPHarvest’s process, which recovers nitrogen and phosphorus from liquid digestate and other waste streams and converts them into usable fertilizer inputs. The approach targets a growing challenge across Europe, where wastewater and waste-to-energy facilities face nutrient overloads and stricter limits on land application of nitrogen.

“In Europe, the limiting factor in fertilizer production is no longer nutrient availability, but how and where those nutrients can be recovered and reused,” said Juho Uzkurt Kaljunen, CEO of NPHarvest, in a press release. “Large volumes already exist in liquid waste streams generated by waste-to-energy plants, yet current systems struggle to convert them into inputs that can be used where they’re permitted and needed. This funding allows us to translate that constraint into repeatable, scalable deployments.”

NPHarvest’s technology has progressed beyond pilot-scale applications, including the launch of an industrial-scale nutrient recovery demonstrator at a waste-to-energy facility in Türkiye and field trials showing recycled nutrients perform comparably to conventional fertilizers. With the new funding, the company plans to advance toward full-scale commercialization, positioning nutrient recovery as a practical option for wastewater and organic waste operators managing excess nutrients under tightening regulatory constraints.