World's first fossil-free steel ready for delivery

SSAB Oxelösund rolled the first steel produced using HYBRIT technology in July and it is now being delivered to the first customer, the Volvo Group.

SSAB, LKAB and Vattenfall created HYBRIT - Hydrogen Breakthrough Ironmaking Technology - in 2016, with the aim of developing a technology for fossil-free iron- and steelmaking. In June this year, the three companies were able to showcase the world’s first hydrogen-reduced sponge iron, produced at HYBRIT’s pilot plant in Luleå. This first sponge iron has since been used to produce the first steel made using this breakthrough technology.

“It’s very pleasing that the HYBRIT partnership is once more taking an important step forward and that SSAB can now produce the first fossil-free steel and deliver to the customer. This shows how partnerships and collaboration can contribute to reducing emissions and building competitiveness for industries. Electrification is contributing to making fossil-free living possible within one generation," said Anna Borg, President and CEO of Vattenfall.

The goal is to deliver fossil-free steel to the market and demonstrate the technology on an industrial scale as early as 2026. Using HYBRIT technology, SSAB claims that it has the potential to reduce Sweden’s total carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 10% and Finland’s by approximately 7%.