Martin Pei

Abstract:

Steel is the most important material for modern society, indispensable for production of food, drinking water, electricity, housing and infrastructure like railway, bridges, tunnels, airports etc. Steel is also the most recycled material. However, growth in world steel demand can’t be satisfied only by recycling. Virgin iron ore based steel is needed for the foreseeable future. Current production technologies of steel from iron ore relies heavily on fossil energy sources like coal and natural gas, and the steel industry accounts for approximately 7% of global CO2-emissions.
SSAB initiated together with mining company LKAB and energy company Vattenfall in 2016 the HYBRIT initiative, aiming at developing a fossil free value chain from mine to steel, thus solving the root cause of CO2-emission. Extensive R&D efforts have been spend and in beginning of 2022 SSAB decided to accelerate and complete the transformation to fossil free steelmaking around 2030, 15 years ahead of the earlier target of 2045.