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Released March 09, 2021 | GALWAY, IRELAND
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GALWAY, IRELAND--March 9, 2021--Written by Martin Lynch, European News
Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Sweden looks set to cement its leadership in pioneering a new wave of green cement and steel production with plans revealed for a new, large-scale fossil-free steel plant in the north of the country.
H2 Green Steel (H2GS) will be located in the Boden-Luleå region and use a giga-scale green hydrogen plant as an integrated part of the steel production facility. It is being backed by a consortium of companies including truckmaker Scania, Vargas--co-founder of battery maker Northvolt, SMS Group and BILSTEIN Group among others. Scania's current chief executive officer, Henrik Henriksson, will take over the running of the venture. Series A equity funding of 50 million euro ($61 million) has closed, and Series B funding, which it expects to top 2.5 billion euro ($3 billion), will close by the end of this year. The goal is to start production in 2024 with an estimated production capacity of 2.5 million tonnes of high-quality steel, ramping up to 5 million tonnes by 2030. Traditional blast furnace-based technology will be replaced by direct reduction reactors using green hydrogen from an electrolyser plant powered by renewable energy.
"We want to accelerate the transformation of the European steel industry," explained Carl-Erik Lagercrantz, chairman of the board of H2GS and Northvolt. "Electrification was the first step in reducing carbon dioxide emissions from the transportation industry. The next step is to build vehicles from high-quality fossil-free steel."
Anders Williamsson, executive vice president and head of purchasing at truck maker, Scania, said: "A Scania truck weighs about six tons, and five of those are steel, which today unfortunately is produced with a substantial carbon footprint. By investing in and partnering with H2 Green Steel we are now further accelerating the journey towards emission-free products across the whole value chain. It's a significant increase in ambition, which will not only contribute to Scania delivering on the goal of Paris Climate Agreement, but also raising the bar even further."
Sweden is already home to the world's leading green steel project, HYBRIT, spearheaded by steelmaker SSAB, Sweden's state-owned mining giant LKAB (Luleå) and energy company Vattenfall. The HYBRIT process is based on direct reduction of iron ore using renewable energy and hydrogen gas (H2).The commercial-scale plant is set to go live in 2025 and will have an initial capacity of just over 1 million tonnes per year of steel. This is the equivalent of 20% of LKAB's total processing capacity at Malmberget and almost half of the production capacity of SSAB's blast furnace in Luleå. For additional information, see June 10, 2020, article - Sweden's Fossil-Free Steel Production Takes Big Step.
The backers of H2GS said they have been inspired by the HYBRIT project and "look forward to a close collaboration" with the HYBRIT founders. The H2GS plant will also be located in the same region as it has access to abundant energy from renewable energy sources, high-quality iron ore and a large port in Luleå.
Vattenfall also is working with Swedish cement maker, Cementa AB, on the first project globally to electrify the production of cement. The CemZero project at Cementa's factory in Slite on the island of Gotland in Sweden has shown that "technical prerequisites exist for electrified cement production." For additional information, see February 11, 2019 article - World's First 'Zero-Carbon' Cement Plant Project Advances in Sweden.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Our European headquarters are located in Galway, Ireland. Follow IIR Europe on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn For more information on our European coverage send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.eu or visit us online at Industrial Info Europe.
H2 Green Steel (H2GS) will be located in the Boden-Luleå region and use a giga-scale green hydrogen plant as an integrated part of the steel production facility. It is being backed by a consortium of companies including truckmaker Scania, Vargas--co-founder of battery maker Northvolt, SMS Group and BILSTEIN Group among others. Scania's current chief executive officer, Henrik Henriksson, will take over the running of the venture. Series A equity funding of 50 million euro ($61 million) has closed, and Series B funding, which it expects to top 2.5 billion euro ($3 billion), will close by the end of this year. The goal is to start production in 2024 with an estimated production capacity of 2.5 million tonnes of high-quality steel, ramping up to 5 million tonnes by 2030. Traditional blast furnace-based technology will be replaced by direct reduction reactors using green hydrogen from an electrolyser plant powered by renewable energy.
"We want to accelerate the transformation of the European steel industry," explained Carl-Erik Lagercrantz, chairman of the board of H2GS and Northvolt. "Electrification was the first step in reducing carbon dioxide emissions from the transportation industry. The next step is to build vehicles from high-quality fossil-free steel."
Anders Williamsson, executive vice president and head of purchasing at truck maker, Scania, said: "A Scania truck weighs about six tons, and five of those are steel, which today unfortunately is produced with a substantial carbon footprint. By investing in and partnering with H2 Green Steel we are now further accelerating the journey towards emission-free products across the whole value chain. It's a significant increase in ambition, which will not only contribute to Scania delivering on the goal of Paris Climate Agreement, but also raising the bar even further."
Sweden is already home to the world's leading green steel project, HYBRIT, spearheaded by steelmaker SSAB, Sweden's state-owned mining giant LKAB (Luleå) and energy company Vattenfall. The HYBRIT process is based on direct reduction of iron ore using renewable energy and hydrogen gas (H2).The commercial-scale plant is set to go live in 2025 and will have an initial capacity of just over 1 million tonnes per year of steel. This is the equivalent of 20% of LKAB's total processing capacity at Malmberget and almost half of the production capacity of SSAB's blast furnace in Luleå. For additional information, see June 10, 2020, article - Sweden's Fossil-Free Steel Production Takes Big Step.
The backers of H2GS said they have been inspired by the HYBRIT project and "look forward to a close collaboration" with the HYBRIT founders. The H2GS plant will also be located in the same region as it has access to abundant energy from renewable energy sources, high-quality iron ore and a large port in Luleå.
Vattenfall also is working with Swedish cement maker, Cementa AB, on the first project globally to electrify the production of cement. The CemZero project at Cementa's factory in Slite on the island of Gotland in Sweden has shown that "technical prerequisites exist for electrified cement production." For additional information, see February 11, 2019 article - World's First 'Zero-Carbon' Cement Plant Project Advances in Sweden.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Our European headquarters are located in Galway, Ireland. Follow IIR Europe on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn For more information on our European coverage send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.eu or visit us online at Industrial Info Europe.
