Key Points

• HYBRIT has published its final report on producing direct reduced iron with fossil-free hydrogen and electricity.
• HYBRIT’s technology can eliminate carbon dioxide emissions in the steel industry and reduce Sweden’s total emissions by over 10%.
• The project, which has proven a fossil-free value chain on a semi-industrial scale, is now moving to full-scale industrial implementation.

After six years of research, HYBRIT has handed over its final report to the Swedish Energy Agency.

The report shows that direct reduced iron produced with the HYBRIT process has advantages over iron produced with fossil fuels.

HYBRIT was launched in 2016 by steel company SSAB, mining company LKAB and energy company Vattenfall. The initiative aims to transform the steel industry by replacing coal and coke with fossil-free hydrogen and electricity in iron production and thereby virtually eliminate carbon dioxide emissions. This could reduce Sweden’s total carbon dioxide emissions by more than 10%.

HYBRIT is the first project in the world to prove a fossil-free value chain from ore to steel on a semi-industrial scale. The research was done from 2018-2024, and HYBRIT has filed several patents and is now moving to full-scale industrial implementation.

Andreas Regnell, Head of Strategic Development at Vattenfall and board member of Hybrit Development AB, says: “It is very gratifying to see the positive results of our targeted cooperation, partnership is a recipe for success. The next step involves scaling up to an industrial scale where fossil-free electricity and hydrogen are what enable the transition to a future where it is possible for everyone to transport, produce and live fossil-free.”

Ulf Spolander, General Manager of Hybrit Development AB, says: “The focus of HYBRIT's technical development has been to build competence and create technical conditions for the implementation of a fossil-free process in a full-scale production. We are very happy that as a team we were able to deliver successful results that reached or exceeded set project goals. The knowledge and experience we developed during the course of the project will now be focused on continuing technology development, primarily to support the industrialization of the owner companies."

Hybrit Development AB will continue to do research and development and deliver solutions to LKAB’s demonstration plant in Gällivare. The pilot project for storing fossil-free hydrogen in Svartöberget, Luleå will run until 2026.

The HYBRIT project is funded by the EU’s Innovation Fund and Industriklivet and is part of the European IPCEI project Hy2Use, which includes 35 projects from 12 countries to accelerate the industry’s transition and increase competitiveness in Europe.

Klara Helstad, Head of the Sustainable Industry Unit at the Swedish Energy Agency says: “The path towards net-zero emissions in industry requires investment in innovative and technology-shifting solutions. This is where The Industrial Leap plays an important role. The ambition is that the knowledge from the various initiatives will spread and accelerate the industry's transition."

A summary of the HYBRIT pilot phase report is available here.

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Source: Vattenfall