Sweden: Production of Green Steel

April 6, 2022

Pressure is being put on the steel-making industry so that their contributions towards environmental impact can be curbed thus, contributing to the Paris climate accord of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Overview:

According to the World Steel Association data, in 2020 every metric ton of steel that was produced emitted almost double the amount of carbon dioxide into the planet’s atmosphere.
In 2020, the total direct emissions from steel stood at 2.6 billion tons of global CO2 emissions.

Emission from steel production in Sweden

Sweden’s steel giant SSAB accounts for 10 percent of the country’s emissions due to the numerous furnaces that the company operates across the country.

About HYBRIT

Hydrogen Breakthrough Ironmaking Technology (HYBRIT) is a joint venture that was launched in 2016 between LKAB, a mining company, SSAB, and Vattenfall, a Swedish state-owned power firm. This joint venture was done with the aim of implementing green energy in the steel industry, thus manufacturing green steel.

About the HYBRIT process

The HYBRIT process has the objective of replacing the coking coal that has been generally used for ore-based steel making with renewable electricity and hydrogen. The process starts with iron ore pellets which are brown-tinged and react to the hydrogen gas and are reduced to sponge iron that is ball-shaped. This name has been given as pores are left behind after the oxygen is removed. Then in an electric furnace, it is melted. If renewable energy has been used to produce hydrogen, then the whole process produces zero CO2. Thus, it decreases the production of CO2 that is produced while making steel from iron ore.

About the HYBRIT plant

The plant where green steel is produced is located in Lulea and is still a research facility. So far it has only produced just a couple of hundred tons. By 2026, there are plans of increasing production and beginning commercial deliveries.

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