Swedish team reports success of CO2-free iron production research

The companies behind the HYBRIT project for fossil-free iron and steel production in Sweden have presented a final report to the Swedish Energy Agency that includes successful results from six years of research in this field, from 2018 to 2024.

According to the project partners – Swedish steel company SSAB AB (STO:SSAB-A), iron ore miner Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB (LKAB) and Swedish utility Vattenfall AB, direct reduced iron (DRI) produced with their process is associated with superior characteristics compared to iron produced with fossil fuels.

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Launched in 2016, the Hydrogen Breakthrough Ironmaking Technology (HYBRIT) initiative aims to virtually eliminate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the steel industry by transitioning away from coal and blast furnace-based steelmaking to the melting of iron in electric arc furnaces using fossil-free hydrogen and electricity. So far, more than 5,000 tonnes of hydrogen-reduced iron have been produced at HYBRIT's pilot plant in Lulea, benefitting customers such as Volvo Group, Epiroc, and Peab, among others. In the next phase of the project, the process will be implemented on an industrial scale.

Among the already achieved results is the development of a new iron product, known as sponge iron, with “significantly better properties than iron reduced with fossil gases such as natural gas.” Its characteristics include being carbon-free, having a high metalisation degree (98-99%), being more resistant to mechanical pressure, drops and abrasion than comparable industrial references, and having stable chemical properties.

For the purpose of the project, the companies have used an alkaline electrolyser to produce hydrogen, which is then used to remove the oxygen from iron ore pellets.

An efficient process practice has also been developed for using an electric arc furnace to melt fossil-free sponge iron into crude steel of the same high quality as today's fossil ore-based steel.

According to Ulf Spolander, General Manager of Hybrit Development AB, the initiative has produced results that meet or even exceed the set project goals. “The knowledge and experience we have developed during the project will now be focused on continuing the process development, primarily to support the owners´ industrialisation projects,” Spolander added.

“At SSAB, we are now investing heavily to convert the entire Nordic production system to fossil-free steel production and have already started delivering fossil-free steel to customers on a smaller scale,” in turn said Martin Pei, Chief Technology Officer at SSAB and Chairman of the Board of Hybrit Development AB.

Looking ahead, LKAB plans to build a demonstration plant in Gallivare as the first step towards the industrial production of sponge iron.