Timetable and latest progress of zero carbon emissions in the Swedish steel industry

In order to achieve the global emission reduction goal, the Swedish government is organizing technological research on the pillar industry of steel. According to the latest news, before the summer of 2020, a large-scale test furnace will be completed and started. The goal is that by 2035, green steel technology will be relatively mature in the national steel industry and gradually achieve zero carbon emissions.

The Swedish technological breakthrough project "HYBRIT, HYdrogen Breakthrough Ironmaking Technology" (HYBRIT, HYdrogen Breakthrough Ironmaking Technology) is composed of three industry giants (Swedish Steel Company, the largest steel producer in Northern Europe in 2016, LKAB, the largest iron ore producer in Europe, and Europe). HYBRIT Development Co., Ltd., a joint venture established by Sweden ’s Great Falls Power Company, one of the largest power producers, is specifically responsible for implementation. Cooperative scientific research institutions include Royal Swedish Institute of Technology, Luleå University of Technology, Swedish National Research Institute, Swedish Steel Research Institute Swerim, etc. In June 2018, government grants were in place, and the Swedish Energy Agency supported 528 million Swedish kronor (about 387 million yuan), setting a record for the agency ’s history of single funding support.

The core of the HYBRIT research project is to upgrade technology and reduce costs, so that hydrogen smelting steel is economically competitive with traditional coke iron making. Both coke and hydrogen can be used as reducing agents to remove impurities in iron ore. In the traditional smelting iron and steel process, carbon dioxide emissions account for 90% of the entire industry. If hydrogen is used instead of coke, the hydrogen will react with the oxygen in the iron ore to generate water vapor to achieve zero carbon emissions.

The project is divided into 6 sub-topics. In addition to hydrogen reduction iron ore technology, steelmaking, zero carbon emission preparation and storage hydrogen technology, and zero carbon emission preparation sponge iron technology are two other key research goals. In addition, renewable energy power generation is also a key condition that has practical significance for zero carbon emissions in the iron and steel industry, because the current zero-carbon emission production of hydrogen is achieved through the electrolytic water technology route, and the preparation process requires a lot of energy.

In June 2018, the groundbreaking ceremony of the large-scale test furnace was held at a steel pilot plant in Luleå, Sweden. The basic construction and internal construction of the test furnace will be completed in February 2020, and it is expected to start trial operation in the summer of 2020. It can produce 1 ton of sponge iron per hour. After five years of technology development and testing, it is planned to build a real demonstration plant by 2025, and the first batch of "zero carbon steel" will leave the gate of the demonstration plant in 2026. From 2025 to 2035, the demonstration plant will continue to improve the technology maturity and promote the industry.

The project feasibility report shows that the cost of hydrogen smelting steel is about 20% to 30% higher than that of the traditional steel smelting process, but as the cost of renewable energy decreases and the cost of carbon dioxide emissions increases, this gap is expected to narrow. The HYBRIT project will further reduce production costs, and the social and economic aspects of the hydrogen smelting steel project will be unified, and the entire steel industry will change it.