瑞典SSAB，LKAB和Vattenfall启动全球首个无化石燃料试点钢厂

      瑞典SSAB，LKAB和Vattenfall公司于8月31日星期一在吕勒奥市开始试验HYBRIT全球独一无二的无化石燃料海绵铁生产试验工厂，这是迈向无化石燃料钢铁生产的决定性一步。 该工厂代表了建立炼钢业完全无化石燃料价值链的重要一步。瑞典总理斯特凡·洛芬（StefanLöfven），环境和气候部长以及副总理伊莎贝拉·洛文（IsabellaLövin）都出席了开幕式。

      HYBRIT的框架还包括在20到2021年的试验期内，在LKAB现有的Malmberget工厂中，用生物质热解油替代化石燃料 的全面努力。位于吕勒奥Svartöberget的中试工厂附近，还准备在LKAB的土地上建造储氢的测试设施。

      HYBRIT的计划具有将瑞典的二氧化碳排放量减少10％，将芬兰的二氧化碳排放量减少7％的潜力，有助于减少欧洲和全球钢铁行业的排放量。如今，钢铁行业产生了全球二氧化碳总排放量的7％。SSAB，LKAB和Vattenfall希望通过HYBRIT建立从矿山到成品钢的完全无化石燃料的价值链，并引入一种使用氢能代替煤和焦炭的全新技术。这意味着该过程将排放水而不是二氧化碳。

 

“Right now we have a historic opportunity to do things that provide jobs here and now – but also hasten the climate transition that everyone realises is necessary. Today, you are laying the foundations that will enable the Swedish steel industry to be entirely fossil- and carbon dioxide-free in 20 years. Together we can rebuild Sweden as the world’s first fossil-free welfare nation,” says Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven.

 

“This inauguration concretizes that the industrial transition is taking place as we speak, and that a fossil-free society is within reach. This unique project has generated a lot of international attention for Sweden. Through the Leadership Group for Industry Transition, which the UN has asked Sweden to lead, this has the opportunity to reverberate around the world,” says Isabella Lövin, Deputy Prime Minister and Climate Minister.

 

“I’m incredibly proud that our globally unique pilot plant has now been completed. It is a milestone in the transition to fossil-free steel. We aim to be the first to market, in as early as 2026, with fossil-free steel. HYBRIT technology will enable us to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions in steelmaking and at the same time help our own customers to reduce their climate footprint. We have the chance to revolutionize the entire steel industry and show that net-zero emissions is possible. We must seize this chance,” says Martin Lindqvist, President and CEO of SSAB.

 

“I am delighted that today we can start up the plant together with the realization that Swedish industry is leading the global transition to sustainable development and lower climate impact. For LKAB, HYBRIT is a step on our journey towards our goal of being a leading carbon-free actor in a fossil-free value chain in 2045. The pilot plant will play a decisive role before we can ramp up the technology for use on an industrial scale. The oxygen in the iron is the great challenge and we need to eliminate it,” says Jan Moström, President and CEO of LKAB.

 

“A partnership like this shows how we can take the lead in the transition to innovative, fossil-free products. Vattenfall seeks to enable a fossil-free life within a generation, not just through fossil-free production but also through partnerships like HYBRIT, where we can use electricity as a source of innovation for a fossil-free future. Our fossil-free electricity and its conversion to hydrogen are key components here, not just for the steel but also because the storage of hydrogen can balance an electricity system with more weather-dependent power generation and increased capacity challenges. I am proud that everyone involved has made it possible to start up this plant today and I look forward to seeing fossil-free steel on the market,” says Magnus Hall, President and CEO of Vattenfall.

 

Just over 2 years ago on June 20, 2018, the ground was broken to mark the start of building the pilot plant for fossil-free sponge iron (DRI/HBI) with financial support from the Swedish Energy Agency. At the plant, HYBRIT will perform tests in several stages in the use of hydrogen in the direct reduction of iron ore. The hydrogen will be produced at the pilot plant by electrolyzing water with fossil-free electricity. Tests will be carried out between 2020 and 2024, first using natural gas and then hydrogen to be able to compare production results. The framework for HYBRIT also includes a full-scale effort to replace fossil oil with bio oil in one of LKAB’s existing pellet plants in Malmberget in a test period extending until 2021. Preparations are also under way to build a test hydrogen storage facility on LKAB’s land in Svartöberget in Luleå, near the pilot plant.

 

The HYBRIT initiative has the potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 10% in Sweden and 7% in Finland, as well as contributing to cutting steel industry emissions in Europe and globally. Today, the steel industry generates 7% of total global carbon-dioxide emissions. With HYBRIT, SSAB, LKAB and Vattenfall aim to create a completely fossil-free value chain from the mine to finished steel and to introduce a completely new technology using fossil-free hydrogen instead of coal and coke to reduce the oxygen in iron ore. This means the process will emit ordinary water instead of carbon dioxide.