The HYBRIT initiative has submitted a final report to the Swedish Energy Agency detailing the outcomes of six years of research. The next phase of the project will scale the process to industrial levels. The report highlights the successful development of a method for producing direct reduced iron without fossil fuels. Research from 2018 to 2024 focused on developing an efficient technology for emission-free iron and steel production, creating sponge iron, and devising a method to melt this iron in electric arc furnaces. Utilizing fossil-free hydrogen and electricity instead of coal and coke has significantly reduced CO2 emissions, and HYBRIT has already filed several patents.
Martin Pei, Chief Technology Officer at SSAB and Chairman of Hybrit Development AB, stated, "I am incredibly proud of everything HYBRIT has achieved since its inception in 2016. Thanks to the successful outcomes of the pilot project, we are well on our way to fundamentally transforming the iron and steel industry. At SSAB, we are currently heavily investing in converting our entire Nordic production system to fossil-free steel production and have already begun supplying customers with fossil-free steel on a smaller scale."
Strong Partnerships
The HYBRIT initiative is a collaboration among steel giant SSAB, mining company LKAB, and energy company Vattenfall. The project is supported by the EU Innovation Fund and the Industriklivet program and is part of the European IPCEI project Hy2Use, which includes a total of 35 projects from 12 countries.
Andreas Regnell, Head of Strategic Development at Vattenfall and board member of Hybrit Development AB, sees the collaboration between the three companies as key to success: "Partnership is the recipe for success. The next step is scaling up to an industrial scale, where fossil-free electricity and hydrogen enable a transition to a future where everyone can transport, produce, and live without fossil fuels," Regnell explained.
Path Cleared for Industrial Implementation
The next phase of the HYBRIT project involves scaling the technology to an industrial level. A planned demonstration plant by LKAB in Gällivare will serve as the next step towards large-scale production of sponge iron. The pilot project for storing fossil-free hydrogen in Svartöberget in Luleå will continue until 2026.
"It has been a groundbreaking journey in a short period of time. The results of the pilot phase show that the process works and that we are ready for the next phase, where the demonstration plant in Gällivare will be the first step towards the industrial production of sponge iron," said Jenny Greberg, Vice President of Technology at LKAB and a board member of Hybrit Development AB.
HYBRIT has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions in Sweden by more than 10% and in Finland by 7%. The pilot plant in Luleå has already produced over 5,000 tonnes of hydrogen-reduced iron. Major industrial companies like Volvo Group, Epiroc, and Peab are already using the fossil-free steel in vehicles, heavy machinery, buildings, and consumer goods.