Traditional wastewater treatment costs money. Ours save it.

At NPHarvest, we recover nutrients from what others flush away. Our tech turns costly treatment into a new revenue stream — all while helping cities and industries meet their sustainability goals. Circular economy isn’t a buzzword. It’s our business model.

POTENTIAL

Every drop wasted comes at a cost

Every year, billions of euros’ worth of recoverable nutrients are flushed away — along with the energy, time and money spent cleaning them up. For municipal treatment plants and industrial facilities, it’s a cycle of spending more to get less.

Treating wastewater has long been seen as an unavoidable expense — something to manage, contain, or outsource. But the real cost isn’t just in running the system. It’s in what gets lost: nitrogen, phosphorus, chemicals, and energy.

The hidden costs of nutrient loss

1,5%

of global GHG-emissions come from ammonia production

€150B

spent annually on nutrient-related processes

80%

of countries depend on nutrient imports

THE NEW NORMAL

Nutrient recovery will become a must have

And as costs rise and geopolitics tense, the price and risk of doing things the old way keeps climbing.

It’s time to stop treating wastewater as a burden — and start seeing it for what it really is: an opportunity.

Wastewater treatment faces increasing pressure stop using billions of euros and causing emissions only to dispose the valuable nutrients.

We offer them turn-key equipment to add to their existing treatment line helping reduce both costs and emissions.

Subsequently, we support them with nutrient trading services to ensure the nutrients recycle. Agriculture desperately needs secure local nutrient sources to replace imports, yet supply is limited.

WHY WE'RE DIFFERENT

The first solution that works — technically and financially

Most nutrient recovery systems fail on cost and scale—too much energy, too much labor, or outputs with little value. This is how we flipped the model:

Low operational costs

Our technology requires only increasing pH – no heating, aeration, pressure, or additional chemicals. We’re not only cheaper than other recovery solutions, we also generate savings compared to the current removal processes.

High-quality end-product

We recover nitrogen as a pure ammonia salt and phosphorus as amorphous calcium phosphate. Both are not only useful but necessary for fertilizer production.

Easy and reliable

Our process is physiochemical and operated only by dosing a base and an acid. Unlike other parties, we’ve found the way to use hydrophobic membrane stripping with total suspended solids up to 3% in the wastewater.

Tech that turns wastewater into a resource.

Our proprietary system recovers nitrogen and phosphorus using membrane separation. It’s compact, energy-efficient, and handles even complex wastewater. Here's how it works:

Collect

We capture nutrient-rich wastewater from, agricultural, municipal or industrial sources — the kind that usually goes to waste.

Recover

Through our proprietary process, we separate and recover valuable nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus efficiently and sustainably.

Yield

The result: high-quality ammonium salt, a phosphorus-based product, and treated wastewater.

We are backed by established investors and RAKI funding from the Finnish Ministry of the Environment. A €2.2M pre-seed round was raised in 2024.

Proud to be part of the 2025 batch of the EIT Food Accelerator Network
AWARDS

Recognized for impact

We’re proud to be recognized by leading industry bodies and innovation platforms. These awards reflect our commitment to turning waste into value and creating scalable circular solutions.

Burak Yirmibesoglu receiving the EBA Inspiration Challenge 2024 award at European Biomethane Week
EBA Inspiration Challenge 2024 by European Biomethane Week
Sara Ikonen holding the Save the Baltic Sea 2025 award certificate and flowers
Save the Baltic Sea 2025 by Suomen Messusäätiö
NPHarvest team receiving the ITU Breakthrough Award 2025 by TEK and TFIF
ITU Breakthrough Award 2025 by TEK and TFIF
Sara Ikonen, COO of NPHarvest, receiving an award at Aalto Demo Day 2025
Aalto Demo Day speed pitch 2025 by Nordic Science Investments

Let's talk sh*t
(in a good way)

Wastewater’s not pretty, but the returns can be. We’re building something real — and we’re looking for partners who are in it for the long haul. If that sounds like you, we should meet.

OUR STORY

From lab experiment to circular economy enabler

NPHarvest began as a research project at Aalto University in 2016 with a bold idea: what if wastewater treatment could be more than just damage control?

The team — engineers, scientists, and circular economy geeks — set out to prove that valuable nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus could be recovered efficiently, without the usual chemical baggage or energy drain.

After years of development and real-world pilots, our system proved it could do just that — turning wastewater into a reliable source of clean water and reusable nutrients.

Our founders took the leap of faith and spun off as a startup in 2023We’re still driven by the same idea: Wastewater isn’t waste — it’s just a resource in the wrong place.

TEAM

We're dealing with all that sh*t

Meet the passionate experts driving our mission forward.

Dr. Juho Uzkurt Kaljunen
CEO and CTO, Co-Founder
DSc, Tech

The original engine behind NPHarvest. Juho invented the core technology during his doctoral research at Aalto University. Today, he leads both the vision and the tech with deep expertise and an unstoppable drive for practical impact.

Sara Ikonen
COO
MSc, Tech

Joined NPHarvest from McKinsey & Company to drive commercialization and investor relations. Sara blends sharp strategic thinking with deep operational insights gained from experiences across a multitude of organizations in process industries.

Federico Varalta
Head of Business Operations, Co-Founder
MSc, Tech

More than 20 years of leading complex projects in organic waste and environmental engineering. Federico keeps NPHarvest’s business machine running and always in support of our clients and distributors.

Burak Yirmibesoglu
Business Developer, Co-Founder
MSc, Tech

Brings a decade of biogas industry expertise. Burak bridges market and manufacturing — managing our procurement, supply chains, and building the partnerships that keep NPHarvest growing strong and delivering on-time.

Eero Petäjä
Technical Operations Engineer
MSc, Tech

Fresh out of Aalto University with a focus on water and environmental engineering, Eero works with Juho to soak up the science and safeguard the future of NPHarvest’s core know-how for years to come.

Our Deck

We’re happy to share our pitch deck and show how this scales — just reach out and we’ll get back to you.

Want to use our solution? Talk to Federico

He’ll walk you through the tech—and how to get started.

Federico Varalta

+358 40 123 4567
fede@npharvest.fi

Looking to invest? Talk to Sara

She knows the numbers, the tech—and how we’re scaling.

Sara Ikonen

+358 40 123 4567
sara@npharvest.fi