Steel Mills

Swedish HYBRIT Receives $2.5 Million for Hydrogen Steel Plant

October 6, 2020

Swedish initiative HYBRIT has received $2.5 million from the Swedish Energy Agency for a comprehensive study of steelmaking using hydrogen for the direct-reduction of iron ore. HYBRIT is a collaboration of steelmaker SSAB, iron ore producer LKAB, and electricity producer Vattenfall. HYBRIT seeks to replace coking coal used in ore-based steel making with hydrogen to create steel with virtually no carbon footprint. The project envisions a completely fossil-free value chain from mine to finished steel.

A pilot plant began operations in Lulea, Sweden, on Aug. 31 to test the use of hydrogen in directly reducing iron ore. The Energy funding will be used to plan a demonstration plant that will use the new technology on an industrial scale. The study will focus on design, plant design, choice of technology, logistics solutions and location. If all goes well, construction of the demonstration plant will begin in 2023. Production is slated for 2025 with one million metric tons of iron capacity per year—about one-fifth of LKAB’s processing capacity in Malmberget and nearly half the production capacity of the SSAB Luela blast furnace.

“Demo-scale studies, in which this project is the first step, are needed before the step can be taken to large-scale industrial implementation. The blast furnaces in the steel industry account for a large share, around 10 pecent of fossil carbon dioxide emissions in Sweden. This is a significant step in Swedish industry’s transition to cutting greenhouse gas emissions,” says Klara Helstad, Head of the Sustainable Industry unit at the Swedish Energy Agency.