Finnish industrial engineering company Rinheat Oy and India-based OrbiGreen Techsource have joined hands to enhance energy efficiency and performance across Indian pulp and paper mills. Rinheat brings decades of expertise in heat recovery, heat transfer, and evaporation processes, while OrbiGreen serves as a sourcing, engineering, and execution partner. Together, they aim to help Indian mills reduce their carbon footprint and achieve more stable operations. In an exclusive interaction with Paper Mart, Mr. Ville Mäkinen, Managing Director & CEO of Rinheat Oy, and Mr. Manish Sharma, Founder & CEO of OrbiGreen Techsource, discuss their partnership.
Paper Mart: Could you introduce Rinheat?
Ville Mäkinen: Rinheat Oy is a Finnish industrial engineering company based in Espoo that specializes in heat transfer, heat recovery, and evaporation technology. Founded in 1986, the company has been with its current owners since 1993. We primarily serve the pulp and paper, energy, biofuels, food, and pharma industries, while also delivering custom thermal solutions for other process-engineering sectors.
With over 40 years of experience, more than 200 global references, and long-standing relations with many customers, Rinheat combines agility with highly experienced personnel and fast response times.
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PM: Could you give us a brief overview of OrbiGreen TechSource and its role as a sourcing partner for the pulp and paper industry in India?
Manish Sharma: OrbiGreen TechSource is a new-age sourcing and modernization partner delivering sustainable industrial solutions across India’s pulp & paper, energy, food, pharma, bio fuels and textile sectors. We bring specialized engineering capabilities and future-ready global technologies to India and the Asia-Pacific region, enabling mills to enhance energy efficiency, strengthen thermal performance, and optimize critical processes with proven, high-impact solutions.
We operate at the intersection of technology sourcing, engineering consultation, and project execution. We identify best-in-class global technologies and adapt them to Indian or local operating conditions through strong local partnerships, supplier networks, and on-ground technical support.
As the industry is evolving, driven by packaging growth, energy cost pressures, and sustainability expectations, mills need partners who can offer retrofit solutions. OrbiGreen Techsource meets that need.
PM: Why is the Indian market strategically important to you?
VM: We had been exploring opportunities in new markets for many years and found the ideal partner in OrbiGreen Techsource through our network. India is the fastest-growing market in the world today and offers immense potential. Manish has a strong background in the pulp and paper industry and a long history of working with global companies. He also has a good understanding of local supplier networks, project management, and engineering. OrbiGreen Techsource is the perfect partner to drive our expansion.
PM: Which Rinheat technologies do you see having the strongest potential in India?
VM: I would say our evaporation technology is a key differentiator. Our proven solutions include condensate segregation, compact equipment footprints designed for tight spaces, and small internal pressure drop in evaporation effects.
By reusing cleaner secondary condensate, mills can reduce raw-water consumption. The low internal pressure drop improves the effective delta-T across evaporation trains, while the lightweight construction lowers manufacturing costs.
Heat recovery is another important area, where contaminated process steam or vapour can be recovered to produce clean steam or hot water. We also have our own patented technology, which has been proven globally.
PM: How will you support Indian mills beyond supplying the technology?
MS: We begin by working closely with mills to understand their current thermal performance and bottlenecks. This includes assessment of steam load, evaporation and condensate systems, heat recovery, and energy efficiency. Such upfront engineering ensures that every solution is customized to the mill’s operating reality.
OrbiGreen Techsource manages the execution lifecycle, including detailed engineering coordination with Rinheat, manufacturing and fabrication oversight, quality assurance and inspection, and on-site installation planning and supervision.
During commissioning, we jointly work with Rinheat’s engineers to oversee start-up, validate performance parameters, optimize steam balance, and stabilize evaporation and heat-recovery systems.
We remain engaged long after commissioning through routine performance reviews, troubleshooting and technical guidance, spare-parts support, and training for mill operators and maintenance teams. This long-term engagement ensures mills maintain high uptime, stable operations, and sustained energy savings.
PM: How are you helping customers improve energy efficiency?
VM: Like I said, having the better condensate segregation reduces the mill’s use of raw water. Smaller internal pressure drops inside the evaporation effects, recovering heat from process steam, and addressing heat exchangers that are not operating well can also improve efficiency. It depends on the customer and what the actual challenges are in the mill. We have innovative designs that reduce equipment weights and footprints.
PM: What are some of the key challenges faced by pulp and paper mills today, and how does OrbiGreen Techsource help customers address them?
MS: Pulp and paper is one of India’s energy-intensive industries, with mills facing excessive steam usage in evaporation, drying, and inefficient heat-recovery systems. OrbiGreen Techsource addresses these challenges through high-efficiency equipment, including evaporators, condensers, and air-heaters from Rinheat, along with optimized heat-recovery and condensate systems. Our solutions enable steam‑load reduction of 10–20%, lower fuel consumption, and improved thermal balance.
Many mills also operate ageing evaporation plants and heat-recovery units, resulting in poor condensate quality and low dry-solids levels. Retrofit-friendly solutions suited to Indian operating conditions can improve condensate quality and evaporation performance.
Thermal inefficiencies can also lead to higher downtime. Data-driven diagnostics, technical audits, and engineering interventions help improve operational stability and reliability.
Finally, mills need to upgrade their systems without long shutdowns. Retrofit-based execution, strong Indian fabrication and installation capabilities, and tight project management help minimize disruption to ongoing production.
PM: What differences do you see in the needs and priorities of Indian pulp and paper mills compared with customers in other markets?
VM: In the Nordics and Europe, there is high dependency on virgin softwood and hardwood fibres sourced through sustainable, FSC- and PEFC-certified forestry networks, alongside highly structured recycled paper loops.
India relies more on non-wood agro-residues such as bagasse, straw, and bamboo, as well as domestic and imported recovered paper, and limited wood supply. Priorities focus on handling high silica content, raw-material yield consistency, and moisture variations.
There are also differences in sustainability and regulatory drivers. The Nordics and Europe have stricter environmental policies, with priorities including decarbonization, fossil-free energy, chemical recovery efficiency, and zero-waste side streams. In India, priorities include water conservation, Zero Liquid Discharge, and cost-effective compliance to reduce water, energy, and chemical footprints per tonne.
The scale and investment landscape also differ. Europe has many highly capital-intensive, mega-scale integrated mills, with strong emphasis on digital transformation, advanced process control, predictive maintenance, and Industry 4.0 automation. India has a mixed landscape of large integrated mills alongside SME mills, where priorities favour fast return on investment, low upfront capital expenditure, modular machine upgrades, and versatile equipment.
When it comes to energy priorities, the Nordics are totally shifting toward energy self-sufficiency through bioenergy, green-grid integration, and recovering surplus process heat, while India focuses on boiler efficiency, co-generation systems, and energy-cost containment to protect mill margins.
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PM: What can the Indian industry expect from both OrbiGreen Techsource and Rinheat in the coming years?
MS: World-class European thermal technology, strong Indian execution capability, a long-term modernization roadmap, and our deep, sustained partnership to help them fully prepare for the next decade of growth.
PM: What are the principles that you believe will guide the two companies as you build this relationship?
VM and MS: We are united by five core principles: engineering integrity, transparency, sustainability, local capability, and long-term partnership. We listen to each mill’s unique challenges and design solutions that fit their operating realities. Our technologies and execution approach are aligned with long-term ESG goals – reducing steam consumption, lowering emissions, and improving resource efficiency. These principles guide how we work together and how we help Indian mills become more future-ready. Every solution we deliver must be capable of producing real, quantifiable performance gains. We combine Finnish innovation with strong Indian execution, skill development, and lifecycle support to ensure mills benefit not just today, but for decades to come.
What excites us most is the chance to combine Finnish innovation with Indian execution strength to deliver real, measurable improvements for mills. We share the same values — engineering integrity, transparency, and a commitment to long-term customer success. Together, we are building a partnership that is not only technically strong, but genuinely meaningful for the future of the Indian pulp and paper industry.
