Swedish Venture Ships World’s First Coal-free ‘Green Steel’

Sweden-based steel maker SSAB has claimed that it has produced “the world’s first fossil-free green steel” and delivered it to its first customer, the Volvo Group, as part of the HYBRIT project- a partnership between SSAB, energy firm Vattenfall, and mining and minerals group LKAB that was founded in 2016.

HYBRIT, or Hydrogen Breakthrough Ironmaking Technology, aims to develop a technology for fossil-free value chain for iron- and steelmaking. In June 2021, the three companies were able to showcase “the world’s first hydrogen-reduced sponge iron” produced at HYBRIT’s pilot plant in Luleå. This sponge iron has since been used to produce the first green steel made with this breakthrough technology, said the company.

The goal is to deliver fossil-free steel to the market and demonstrate the technology on an industrial scale as early as 2026. Using HYBRIT technology, SSAB believes that it can reduce Sweden’s total carbon dioxide emissions by approximately ten per cent and Finland’s by approximately seven per cent.

In July, SSAB Oxelösund rolled the first green steel produced using HYBRIT technology, i.e., reduced by 100% fossil-free hydrogen instead of coal and coke, with good results, the firm added.

“We hope that this will inspire others to also want to speed up the green transition,” says Martin Lindqvist, President and CEO of SSAB, about the new development.

“Industry and especially the steel industry create large emissions but are also an important part of the solution. To drive the transition and become the world’s first fossil-free welfare state, collaboration between business, universities and the public sector is crucial,” says Minister of Trade and Industry of Sweden Ibrahim Baylan.

“We’ll be converting to electric arc furnace in Oxelösund as early as 2025. This is the first production site within SSAB to make the transition, and it means that we’ll already be cutting large amounts of carbon dioxide emissions then. This is a major responsibility, one that we’re proud to shoulder, and it brings great opportunities to the region,” says Johnny Sjöström, Head of SSAB Special Steels Division.