SFTec
SFTec is a growing technology company from Oulu Finland. The company was founded in 2013 as a spin-off company of the University of Oulu. The idea for our main product ModHeat® originated from the industry’s need for a dryer that would make it technically possible and economically viable to process industrial side streams.
Drying new value
The goal of our company is to promote business in accordance with the circular economy principles, where new value is created from poorly utilized resources or where new materials and products are developed with environmentally friendly processes and raw materials. We are the only dryer technology supplier on the market that specializes in improving the utilization possibilities of side stream and waste materials.
Our vision is to offer the best available technology in our focus areas. We also aim to be the preferred partner of our customers for developing new circular economy based business cases or material handling systems.
History
The need for ModHeat® dryers arose from our founders’ long experience in the steel industry. In the steel industry, several side stream and waste fractions are generated, which, if dried, could be utilized as new products or recycled back into processes. However, no suitable and cost-effective dryer could be found on the market.
The ModHeat® dryer has been developed in close cooperation with industry partners and research institutes. The first small-scale pilot dryer was completed in 2014. The purpose of the pilot device was to test and verify the operating principle of the dryer for as many different materials as possible.
In 2016, the first full-scale pilot device was built. The dryer was designed to be mobile, which enabled the technology to be piloted flexibly at the sites of our customers and partners. The mobile dryer has been around Finland and Europe and has been used in numerous different research and pilot projects.
The first ModHeat® models were built using a shipping container as the dryer’s frame. As the solution matured, we decided to move on to building the dryer on its own structure, which made it possible to scale the solution to different size categories. At the same time, we developed the dryer’s visual appearance and design language in a more modern direction. The results of almost 10 years of development can be seen in our latest ModHeat® models.
Throughout our history, the needs of the market and discussions with customers directed SFTec’s operations more and more towards the circular economy sector. Most of the needs were related in one way or another to enhancing the beneficial use of side streams, replacing fossil raw materials, utilizing waste heat or developing completely new sustainable products.
Today, we are a technology company focused on the needs of the circular economy, which understands the technical and financial requirements of circular economy business. We offer our customers complete material handling solutions and support for the productization of circular economy business cases.
Our values
Responsibility
The circular economy is one of the cornerstones of our philosophy. We strive to enable new business based on the circular economy through our own innovations.
Customer focus
We are genuinely interested in the side streams of each of our customers and help solve the technical and financial challenges they cause.
Quality
We want to be proud of the quality of our work and solutions. We constantly develop our operations and technologies and operate following the principles of a quality management system.
Initiative
We have ideas for large systemic solutions for industry, bioeconomy and circular economy. We drive these ideas forward in cooperation projects with research institutions and industry partners.
