Sweden secretly makes use of hydrogen to forge inexperienced metal. Now it’s prepared for industrialization

Deep in the icy north of Sweden lies a small factory where the country's largest industrial companies are continuously testing a new technology that could make one of the dirtiest industries in the world cleaner.

Energy giant Vattenfall, steel manufacturer SSAB and mining company LKAB built the facility — located in the small town of Luleå — in 2020 as part of the HYBRIT project. The aim of the initiative is to prove that steel can be produced on an industrial scale using hydrogen and clean electricity.

“The use of hydrogen for steel production is still in its infancy,” an SSAB representative told TNW. “It represents only a tiny fraction of today's steel production.” But that could soon change.

How do you make steel with hydrogen?

Steel is one of the world's most commonly used materials. And its production accounts for 11% of global CO2 emissions. Most of those emissions come from heating and reducing iron – the core ingredient in steel – in a blast furnace using coal and coke (a refined type of coal, not the soft drink).

The

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However, HYBRIT technology does not use blast furnace at all. In a process called direct reduction, hydrogen is used instead of coke. This reduces iron oxides to metallic iron without melting it. The hydrogen reacts with the oxygen in the iron ore and so-called “iron sponge” is formed. The only byproduct is water vapor.

A piece of fossil-free sponge iron with the Hybrit pilot plant in the background. Image credit: Hybrit

At the plant in LuleaSSAB takes this sponge iron and then melts it into steel in an arc furnace powered by Vattenfall's wind farms. The result is good, old-fashioned steel – but without the emissions.

Becoming mainstream

This week, Vattenfall, SSAB and LKAB presented the results of their six-year test to the Swedish Energy Agency. The report shows that iron made with hydrogen is not only carbon neutral, but also stronger and more durable than iron made with fossil fuels. The partners have applied for and received several patents based on the results.

HYBRIT's pilot plant is the first in the world to test the “fossil-free value chain” for steel on a semi-industrial scale. The factory has already produced 5,000 tonnes of hydrogen-reduced iron. And companies such as Volvo, Epiroc and Peab have already incorporated the green steel into their cars, machines and buildings.

The industrial giants will now start building a larger factory in Gällivare, three hours north of Luleå, in the heart of Swedish Lapland. The long-term plan is to build more hydrogen iron factories and completely decarbonise steel production in Sweden – reducing the country's emissions by 10%.

However, there are still significant hurdles ahead. Producing sufficient quantities of green hydrogen requires a constant supply of clean energy. In addition, hydrogen is currently much more expensive than fossil fuels, and the The price does not fall so quickly as expected.

Can Europe maintain its green steel technology?

Mining giant Archelor Mittal said in February that it cannot operate its European plants with green hydrogen because the resulting green steel would not be competitive on international markets. It is simply too expensive.

“Developing a completely new technology is expensive,” a LKAB spokesperson told TNW. “With support, it goes faster, but we are competing with initiatives that receive significantly more government support.”

LKAB is no doubt referring here to the fact that funding for climate technology often flows more freely outside Europe, boosted by massive public spending such as Biden's $1 trillion anti-inflation bill.

In March pledged up to $1 billion for two green steel projectsUS steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs will build one of the plants. The other will be built by none other than SSAB, using the hydrogen reduction technology developed as part of HYBRIT.

European politicians would do well to recognise the signs of the times and increase funding for climate technology – or risk trend to force the development of domestic technologies abroad.

However, there is not only bad news.

H2 Green Steelone of Europe’s best-funded startups, has chosen a location in Swedish soil for its first industrial plant. The startup expects to launch the first commercial batches of its steel by 2025 and aims to produce five million tonnes of green steel annually by 2030.

H2 Green Steel also has signed an agreement with Iberdrola to build a solar power plant in Spain, while Gravity plans to open a hydrogen-based steel plant in France in 2027.