Tag Archives: Vatenfall

SSAB, LKAB and Vattenfall plot HYBRIT pilot production pathway

Environmental, Metallurgy, Power supply for mines, Steel and iron ore, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , ,

SSAB, LKAB and Vattenfall are taking another important step in their fossil-free steelmaking journey with preparations now underway for the construction of a demonstration plant on an industrial scale for its HYBRIT initiative.

The companies have also started consultations for deciding on placement of this demo plant in Norrbotten, Sweden.

The objective of the joint venture HYBRIT project is to develop the world’s first fossil-free, ore-based steelmaking process. The by-product of using fossil-free electricity and hydrogen in steelmaking, instead of coke and coal, will be water, instead of carbon dioxide. The partners believe the initiative has the potential to reduce Sweden’s total carbon dioxide emissions by 10%, hence the reason the Swedish Energy Agency has granted financial support for the project.

The plan is for construction of the demonstration plant to start in 2023, with the goal of taking the plant into operation in 2025.

“The intention is to be able to demonstrate full-scale production with a capacity of just over 1 Mt/y of iron per year, ie 20% of LKAB’s total processing capacity at Malmberget and almost half of the production capacity of SSAB’s blast furnace in Luleå,” the company said. “The goal is to be first in the world to produce fossil-free steel as early as 2026.”

HYBRIT is now starting an investigation into the selection of a location for the demonstration plant. Parallel consultations are being launched at two sites in Sweden: the Vitåfors industrial estate in Gällivare Municipality, where LKAB has mining operations, and the Svartön industrial estate in Luleå, where facilities including SSAB’s steel mill and LKAB’s ore port are located.

“The purpose is to consult and conduct an open dialogue about the location and design of the plant ahead of the upcoming selection of the site and permit application,” the companies said. “Consultation with government agencies, organisations and the public will begin in June and conclude in September 2020.”

The choice of location will have a major impact on future competitiveness and climate benefits, according to the partners, with investment decisions made once the authorisation procedure and other investigations have been completed.

HYBRIT’s pilot phase will run in parallel with the demonstration phase. In Luleå, the pilot plant for fossil-free steel will be fully constructed during the summer, and preparations are also under way to initiate construction of a temporary hydrogen store to test the technology for storing hydrogen in caverns, the partners said.

Martin Pei, Chief Technical Officer at SSAB and Chairman of HYBRIT, said: “We want to build the plant in Norrbotten. There’s good access to fossil-free electricity and competence here, as well as close collaboration with academia and the community. A demonstration plant for fossil-free iron production would also be positive for growth and jobs in the region, as well as contributing to a major climate benefit.”

Markus Petäjäniemi, Senior Vice President Market and Technology at LKAB, said HYBRIT is an important piece of the “jigsaw puzzle” in a green transition, in which we want to “climate-optimise” the whole chain from mine to finished steel by the year 2045.

“We want Norrbotten to be a world-leading arena for innovation and a centre of knowledge for the global mining and minerals sector,” he added.

HYBRIT partners to speed up fossil-free steelmaking plans

Environmental, Power supply for mines, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , ,

The partners of the HYBRIT project, LKAB, SSAB and Vatenfall, have said they could move up their plans to build a fossil-free steelmaking demonstration plant by three years, to 2025.

Writing in Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter, the Presidents and CEOs of the three companies, Martin Lindqvist (SSAB), Jan Moström (LKAB) and Magnus Hall (Vattenfall), said they were ready to step up their work for fossil-free steel production and to move up plans to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

The aim of HYBRIT, which is supported by the Swedish Energy Agency, is to develop a process for fossil-free steelmaking by 2035.

In 2018, the Swedish Energy Agency announced it would contribute funding amounting to more than SEK500 million ($54 million) towards the pilot-scale development of an industrial process, with three owners, LKAB, SSAB and Vattenfall, each contributing a third of the outstanding capital for the project.

Back in April, the partners said construction of a biofuel-based pelletising plant would shortly begin at LKAB’s Malmberget site, in Sweden. This “world-unique test facility”, a key component of the HYBRIT initiative, will see fossil fuels replaced with biofuel to achieve fossil-free production of iron ore pellets.

In the opinion piece in Dagens Nyheter, the company heads said: “We are ready to increase efforts from our side, but if we are to achieve success, society and lawmakers must do the same.

“We are already looking into the possibility of building a demonstration plant in 2025, three years ahead of plan, so that we can immediately thereafter produce iron ore-based, fossil-free steel for commercial use.

“The goal is to be selling fossil-free produced steel on a broad scale by 2035,” they said.

The three companies highlighted four important preconditions for this rapid transition to succeed:

  • “We need large volumes of fossil-free electricity. According to our calculations, the transition to HYBRIT requires the equivalent of about 10% of Sweden’s current electricity consumption. There will also be demand for electricity from other companies and consumers. We will need continued good access to fossil-free electricity with a high level of delivery reliability, competitive pricing and initiatives to create greater flexibility, eg through opportunities to store energy. This work must not be delayed. We are prepared to assist in these efforts;
  • “The public sector in Sweden must get involved and share the risk. Investing in groundbreaking technology such as HYBRIT is often risky, time-consuming and associated with major investments. At the same time, the projects bring great social benefit in the form of increased research, competence and opportunities to achieve climate goals. The Swedish government’s proposal to double the Industrial Evolution initiative over three years is good, but it needs to be secured for a long time to come. A fund is also needed at the EU level, and there may also be a need for support in being able to write off and scrap old plants (so-called stranded assets) in favour of new, sustainable technology;
  • “As a society, we cannot afford to keep emitting greenhouse gases. The EU trading system for emission allowances is currently being revised, and as a result, the costs of carbon dioxide emissions are rising. The system should be designed from 2020 to benefit the most climate-efficient methods from quarrying in the rock to finished steel. The system needs to be developed even after the upcoming trading period. Sweden and the rest of the EU also need to strive to change other parts of the world ahead of similar systems. Bold, sustainable solutions must not be prevented because parts of the world have a lower level of ambition and therefore carry on using old technology; and
  • “Effective, appropriate permit testing in Sweden is required so that work on the transition is not significantly delayed or stopped completely, not least so that sufficient electricity can be obtained now that we have the opportunity to move up the demonstration phase. It can sometimes take 10 years to obtain an environmental permit or a concession to lay an electrical cable or to upgrade the grid. The Swedish government is planning some measures, but more work is needed.”

The three concluded: “Steel is an amazing material. It builds communities, is hard-wearing and can in principle be recycled an infinite number of times.

“But recycled steel will not be enough. In line with social development, population growth and increasingly higher standards of living all over the world, demand will increase for new steel made from iron ore. Therefore, sustainable solutions are needed; solutions that contribute not just to solving climate change, but to social development.”

HYBRIT fossil-free steelmaking project moves forward with biofuel plant build

Comminution of minerals, Environmental, Mineral processing, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Power supply for mines, Steel and iron ore, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A joint initiative between LKAB, SSAB and Vattenfall to develop the world’s first fossil-free steelmaking process is gaining momentum, with construction of a biofuel-based pelletising plant shortly beginning at the iron ore miner’s Malmberget site, in Sweden.

This “world-unique test facility”, a key component of the HYBRIT initiative, will see fossil fuels replaced with biofuel to achieve fossil-free production of iron ore pellets.

The aim of HYBRIT, which is supported by the Swedish Energy Agency, is to develop a process for fossil-free steelmaking by 2035.

In 2018, the Swedish Energy Agency announced it would contribute funding amounting to more than SEK500 million ($54 million) towards the pilot-scale development of an industrial process, with three owners, LKAB, SSAB and Vattenfall, each contributing a third of the outstanding capital for the project.

LKAB said: “Fossil-free steel production starts at the mine and LKAB is working hard to determine the design of the next generation of pelletising plants.”

Back in October, Tenova HYL was contracted by HYBRIT to supply its direct reduced iron solution as part of the project.

The biofuel-based plant, to be built near to LKAB’s Malmberget iron ore mine, will cost in the region of SEK80 million.

“Testing a bio-oil system is part of the pilot phase and the objective is to convert one of LKAB’s pelletising plants from fossil fuel to 100% renewable fuel,” the company said. “This means that fossil-generated carbon dioxide emissions from the Malmberget operation will be reduced by up to 40% during the test period, which corresponds to about 60,000 t/y. Eventually, LKAB hopes to achieve totally carbon-dioxide-free pellet production.”

Jan Moström, LKAB’s President and CEO, said: “Within HYBRIT, LKAB is examining options for replacing the heating technologies used in the pellet process, which are the heart of our processing plants. In parallel, trials will be conducted in an experimental facility in Luleå using an alternative heating technology. Trials will determine whether new biofuels and plasma burners will work in the unique setting of a pellet plant. Ultimately, this will make LKAB’s iron ore pellets completely carbon-dioxide-free.”

The global iron and steel industry is one of the industrial sectors whose processes emit the most carbon dioxide, according to LKAB. “A growing population, in combination with greater urbanisation, means that demand for steel will continue to grow until 2050. If the HYBRIT initiative succeeds, Sweden’s carbon dioxide emissions will decrease by 10%,” the company said.

Mårten Görnerup, CEO, Hybrit Development AB, said: “The initiative is decisive for Sweden’s ability to meet the targets set out in the Paris Agreement and nationally, and it is our contribution to battling climate change. Fossil-free production of iron ore pellets is an important step towards reaching these goals.”

Following a pre-study conducted in 2016–2017, the first sod was turned in 2018 for a pilot plant for hydrogen-based reduction of iron ore in Luleå, Sweden. This plant, expected to be completed in 2020, will be used to test processes downstream from the pelletising plant. The investment in a pilot-plant for bio-oil in Malmberget, which is an important milestone for HYBRIT and the development of fossil-free pellet production, is expected to be completed by 2020. The first tests will be conducted up to 2021.

Magnus Hall, President and CEO, Vattenfall, said: “Our partnership with SSAB and LKAB is playing a very important role in the electrification of the industry and the development of fossil-free hydrogen to enable a fossil-free life within a generation.”

Martin Lindqvist, CEO and President of SSAB, said the partners are on their way to a revolutionary technical advancement, “showing the world that it is possible to produce steel without producing carbon dioxide emissions”.

He added: “Work is proceeding according to schedule and I am confident that we will succeed. As a first step toward creating a fossil-free SSAB, we have decided to switch to an electric arc furnace in Oxelösund. This will entail decommissioning both blast furnaces in around 2025 and will reduce our CO2 emissions in Sweden by around 25%,” he said.

The primary goal of HYBRIT is to eliminate fossil-generated carbon dioxide emissions and thereby stop the net increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This will be done by converting to renewable fuel.

In the next step, LKAB’s vision is to fully eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from the pelletising plants. LKAB’s iron ore consists largely of magnetite and, even without the use of bio-oil, it already gives the company a big environmental head-start on competitors, according to the company.

Steel produced from 100% LKAB iron ore pellets results in carbon dioxide emissions that are 14% lower when compared to steel manufactured at an average European sinter-based steel mill. “One explanation is that it requires less energy to make pellets from magnetite than from the more commonly occurring hematite. The pellet process currently requires a lot of energy, while a very great amount of heat is released when magnetite is converted to hematite.”

HYBRIT Chooses Tenova DRI for fossil-free steel-making tech

Coal technology, Environmental, Metallurgy, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, Power supply for mines, Steel and iron ore, , , , , ,

Tenova HYL has been contracted by HYBRIT to supply its direct reduced iron (DRI) solution as part of the world’s first fossil-free steel-making technology in Sweden.

HYBRIT, a joint-venture project between SSAB, LKAB and Vattenfall, was established in 2016 with an aim to replace coking coal, traditionally needed for ore-based steel making, with hydrogen, a fossil-free steel-making technology. This would result in steel with virtually no carbon footprint, the company says.

The Tenova HYL DRI technology will be used at HYBRIT’s pilot plant in Luleå, Sweden, which is expected to begin operations in 2020.

“Thanks to the unique characteristics of its process and its specific expertise in direct reduction with high content of hydrogen, Tenova HYL perfectly fitted with HYBRIT project,” Tenova said.

The company added that the “manoeuvrability” of production of the DRI module was another contributing factor, adding flexibility in terms of operations.

Mårten Görnerup, CEO of Hybrit Development AB, said: “By using state-of-the-art production technology as a starting point, we will more quickly reach our goal of a fossil-free future.”

HYBRIT’s goal is to have a solution for fossil-free steel by 2035.