Steel Mills
SSAB Touts World's First Fossil-Free Steel Delivery
Written by Michael Cowden
August 19, 2021
Swedish steelmaker SSAB said it has produced the world’s first-fossil free steel and delivered a trial order to automaker Volvo.
“It’s possible to … significantly reduce the global carbon footprint of the steel industry. We hope that this will inspire others to also want to speed up the green transition,” SSAB President and CEO Martin Lindqvist said in a statement.
SSAB made the steel using the hydrogen-based HYBRIT technology it has developed in conjunction with Swedish iron ore miner LKAB and Swedish power company Vattenfall. The partners commissioned a pilot hydrogen-based direct-reduced iron (DRI) plant in Luleå, in northern Sweden, in August 2020.
The goal is to charge hydrogen-based DRI into an electric-arc furnace (EAF) to make fossil-free steel at an industrial scale by 2026.
“It’s a crucial milestone and an important step towards creating a completely fossil-free value chain from mine to finished steel,” LKAB President and CEO Jan Moström said.
SSAB rolled the trial fossil-free steel at its steel mill in Oxelösund, Sweden. The mill, an integrated facility, is slated to switch to EAF production as soon as 2025, the company said.
Switching to EAF production means the carbon-intensive coking coal process is no longer necessary. And DRI produced via hydrogen results in H2O (water) emissions instead of CO2 emissions.
Steel is a major contributor to higher global carbon emissions. SSAB thinks the switch to hydrogen steelmaking in Sweden and Finland, where its integrated mills are located, could reduce carbon emissions in those countries by 10% and 7%, respectively.
SSAB Americas, a subsidiary of the Swedish steelmaker, operates EAF plate mills in Iowa and in Alabama.
SSAB Americas President Chuck Schmitt told SMU earlier this summer that the company intends to make its first trial of fossil-free steel in the U.S. in early 2022.
By Michael Cowden, Michael@SteelMarketUpdate.com
Michael Cowden
Read more from Michael CowdenLatest in Steel Mills
August US mill shipments slip but still higher than last year
The American Iron and Steel Institute reported a decline in the monthly shipments of US mills from July to August.
TransPod, Algoma, Supreme Steel linkup anchors Canadian steel in high-speed transit build
The three Canadian companies have announced a strategic partnership to support the development of an ultra-high-speed transit line from Edmonton to Calgary.
Metallus, USW agree to tentative four-year labor deal
Metallus and the United Steelworkers (USW) have agreed to a tentative four-year labor contract.
ArcelorMittal Dofasco resumes cokemaking after emergency maintenance
The Canadian steelmaker reported on Sept. 30 that “urgent maintenance” was needed in its coke plant off-gas systems. The work required coke oven gas from the No. 2 coke plant to be flared for most of that week.
AISI: Raw steel production ticks back down
US raw steel output declined last week after increasing the week prior, according to the latest data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). Output has see-sawed from week to week since mid-August. Still, it has remained historically strong over the past four months and has held near multi-year highs since June. Domestic mills […]