The steel industry accounts for about 7 % of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. In the Swedish project HYBRIT, fossil-free steel is being developed and is expected to be on the market by 2026. This would make it the first fossil-free steel in the world.
Inaugurated in August
Steelmaker SSAB, mining company LKAB and state-owned electricity and heat producer Vattenfall have joined forces in the project HYBRIT to create the first fossil-free steel in the world. At the pilot plant in Luleå in the north of Sweden, officially inaugurated on the 31st of August by Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, HYBRIT will carry out tests to create the new steel-making process.
Hydrogen breakthrough ironmaking technology
The name HYBRIT is short for ”Hydrogen breakthrough ironmaking technology” and entails several changes in the production chain. LKAB will switch to producing ironstone pellet with fossil-free fuels and SSAB will use hydrogen gas instead of coke to produce sponge iron, which is produced with fossil-free electricity from Vattenfall.
Carbon neutrality by 2045
Sweden strives to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045 and steel production accounts for large emissions in the production process. The goal of HYBRIT is to lower Sweden’s total emissions by 10 % by switching to fossil-free steel.
The fossil-free steel will be roughly 20-30 % more expensive than steel made with fossil fuels, but the price is expected to fall to competitive levels eventually due to factors such as environmental regulations.
Read more about HYBRIT here. (External link)
