Swedish specialty steel producer SSAB with Swedish mining company LKAB and domestic energy company Vattenfall have fully completed a hydrogen gas storage pilot project using their joint HYBRIT® technology, according to a statement made by LKAB.
Under the project, a 100 cubic meter hydrogen storage facility was built in Svartöberget adjacent to the direct reduced (DR) sponge iron pilot plant in Luleå. Also, the facility has been in operation since 2022.
The results of the project demonstrate that it is technically possible to store green hydrogen gas for green iron and steelmaking on an industrial scale. It can also reduce the costs of hydrogen production by up to 40 percent. In the meantime, fossil-free industrial processes based on hydrogen gas from green electricity instead of fossil fuels result in the industry being more dependent on electricity. Therefore, it is crucial to secure the supply of hydrogen.
Currently, the steel industry accounts for around seven percent of global carbon emissions. The HYBRIT® technology will enable SSAB to reduce Sweden’s carbon emissions by 10 percent.
