SSAB to offer fossil-free steel in 2026

Sweden’s SSAB tells Kallanish that it will offer the first fossil-free steel products to the market in 2026, according to company president and ceo Martin Lindqvist.   

“We seek to initiate partnerships with our customers around common goals so that they can be the first in the world to include fossil-free steel in their own products,” the ceo said. The steelmaker presented the plan for transitioning to iron-ore based fossil-free steel production, in conjunction with SSAB’s Swedish Steel Prize seminars last week in Stockholm.

In line with SSAB’s global ambitions, the company anticipates that its US operations, which utilise scrap-based electric arc furnace (EAF) technology, will be powered completely by renewable energy by 2022 in its Iowa operations. It will also be able to offer fossil-free steel products starting in 2026, utilising sponge iron developed through the Hybrit joint-initiative in Sweden.

Hybrit, owned by SSAB and partners LKAB and Vattenfall is now building a pilot plant for sponge iron (DRI) at SSAB’s Swedish site in Luleå. The plant will be up and running summer 2020. The companies have invested around SEK 1.7 billion ($177m) and the Swedish Energy Agency has granted government support totalling SEK 599m.