SSAB to supply Vattenfall with green steel for dam gate
Swedish steelmaker SSAB has signed an agreement with state-owned energy company Vattenfall to supply green steel for a new dam gate, to be the largest and first of its kind globally produced from ironmaking with near-zero fossil carbon emissions.
SSAB said the agreement covers a pilot delivery of 120 tonnes of HYBRIT-produced steel for the new dam gate, produced via electric-arc furnace (EAF) with “fossil-free sponge iron”.
HYBRIT is a joint project between SSAB, Vattenfall, and ironmaker LKAB, seeking to create a fossil-free production chain from raw materials to finished steel, beginning with hydrogen-based direct-reduced iron (H2-DRI) through to green energy-powered EAF steelmaking.
“This is an important step in our shared commitment to reducing carbon emissions. With forward-thinking partners like Vattenfall, we continue to lead the transformation of the steel industry. Our successful collaboration through HYBRIT now demonstrates what we can achieve to reduce the climate footprint across the entire value chain,” said Thomas Hörnfeldt, Vice President of Sustainability at SSAB.
The steelmaker describes its fossil-free steel as a “proof-of-concept for the emission-free materials of the future, demonstrating that it is possible to manufacture large, complex components with a radically reduced climate footprint.”
As European authorities signal that sustainability criteria could be incorporated into public procurement directives or mandates via legislative proposals scheduled for this year, a demonstration of the applicability of low-carbon steel to larger-scale infrastructural developments could advantage SSAB’s HYBRIT steel in this emerging market.
HYBRIT-based renovations and developments are expected to become fully operational, and scale, between 2028-2029, as detailed in McCloskey’s European Green Steel Profile.
Benjamin Steven Journalist, Steel
SSAB to supply fossil-free steel for construction equipment
SSAB says it has entered into an agreement with global construction equipment manufacturer Putzmeister to supply future fossil-free steel for use in manufacturing products such as concrete pump trucks and concrete mixers.
SSAB and Putzmeister have a long history of partnership and technical cooperation, Kallanish understands. By using SSAB’s Strenx high-strength structural steel and Hardox wear plates, Putzmeister has developed very strong and lightweight truck chassis, pump crane booms and concrete mixer drums. The lighter machines increase machine performance but also reduce carbon footprint, SSAB says.
This agreement replaces conventional steel with steel made via Hybrit technology, developed by SSAB with mining company LKAB and energy company Vattenfall, using green hydrogen and fossil-free electricity.
Christian Koehl Germany
Dillinger and Vattenfall sign MOU on wind projects
Platemaker Dillinger and energy group Vattenfall Europe Windkraft have signed a declaration of intent to accelerate the use of CO2-reduced steel in future wind projects.
For Dillinger, creating early demand for CO2-reduced steel is crucial to advancing investment in this technology and the decarbonisation of the steel industry, Kallanish hears from the steelmaker.
“We are investing around €4.6 billion ($4.8 billion) in the decarbonisation of our German production sites with the support of the federal and state governments,” says Stefan Rauber, Dillinger ceo.
“The fact that Vattenfall wants to implement its ambitious climate targets with this steel indicates to us the demand for CO2-reduced steel and gives us momentum for our Power4Steel decarbonisation project.”
“The use of CO2-reduced steel, especially in our offshore wind farms, is an important lever in achieving our sustainability goal,” says Samira Barakat, vice president of partnerships and business transformation at Vattenfall.
Christian Koehl Germany
Hybrit initiative presents final report
Sweden’s Hybrit initiative will present the results of six years of research into fossil-free direct reduced iron-making technology in a final report to the Swedish Energy Agency, Kallanish learns from SSAB, a partner in the project.
Hybrit is a collaboration between SSAB, mining company LKAB and energy company Vattenfall, which have received several patents based on the results. The project is now continuing in the next phase where the process is to be implemented on an industrial scale.
The pilot phase resulted in the development of a new hydrogen-based technology for efficient fossil-free iron and steel production with 0.0 tonnes of CO2 emissions per tonne of steel. It also developed a new fossil-free iron product – sponge iron – that has significantly better properties than iron reduced with fossil gases such as natural gas. It also produced an efficient process practice for melting fossil-free sponge iron into crude steel in an electric arc furnace.
The project is the first in the world to demonstrate that the fossil-free value chain – from iron ore to steel – works on a semi-industrial scale. So far, more than 5,000 tonnes of hydrogen-reduced iron have been produced at the pilot plant in Luleå. Customers such as Volvo, Epiroc, Peab and many more are already using the fossil-free steel in vehicles, heavy machinery, buildings and consumer products.
Christian Koehl Germany