“HYBRIT in focus at SSAB Luleå”

Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation and Climate Isabella Lövin visited SSAB Luleå on Friday, September 8. The focal point of the visit was HYBRIT - SSAB, LKAB and Vattenfall's joint initiative for a fossil-free steel industry. The visit began with an introduction and continued with a tour of Blast Furnace 3.

SSAB’s blast furnaces in Luleå and Oxelösund are already among the most CO₂-efficient in the world. The road to a fossil-free steel industry requires innovations in the form of HYBRIT. The idea is to study whether hydrogen instead of carbon and coke can be used as a reducing agent. This would then produce iron and water as by-products.

"The visit has given me a lot of hope. It is very positive that there is so much energy and drive to solve these issues. And that the industry is part of the solution. We need to work together to create a sustainable future and I feel that SSAB are really on board to find the solution", said Isabella Lövin.

SSAB is continuously working to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. As current processes have achieved a high degree of efficiency, there are only small opportunities to reduce emissions even more using current technologies. This is why in spring 2016, SSAB, LKAB and Vattenfall launched an initiative to find a solution to move completely away from the root cause of carbon dioxide emissions.

"We have had a really good discussion and Isabella Lövin is really interested in our project and understand our challenges in the process. We get a lot of credit which is of course very positive", said Martin Pei, Head of Technical Development at SSAB.

In August, the Swedish government announced that it would be investing SEK 300 million a year between 2018-2040 to help Swedish industry take the lead in the quest for zero emissions of greenhouse gases. Through what is known as “Industriklivet” (Industrial evolution), the government is supporting companies all the way from research and innovation projects through to demonstration and full scale installations. On September 4, Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation and Climate Isabella Lövin met with business leaders from Swedish base industries whose processes generate carbon dioxide emissions, including SSAB, to discuss the way forward for Industriklivet.

For more information about HYBRIT