Climate Revolution: Steel has been decarbonised

Steel is increasingly climate-friendly. Less and less impactful, thanks to the new revolutions taking place in the steel industry sector. The starting point is that the steel industry alone accounts for 7 percent of global CO2 emissions. But things are changing. The “strong” world of steel is becoming increasingly lighter and more sustainable. This is thanks to the new generations of high-strength steels, tempered and tempered steels and sheet coils that have a lower environmental impact and allow us to glimpse a future in which it is possible to virtually eliminate CO2 emissions.

SSAB, a highly specialized and cutting-edge steel company, has managed to make the final product, steel, sustainable and increase its strength and durability.

SSAB, a highly specialized and cutting-edge steel company, has managed to lighten the final product, steel, and increase its strength and durability. It has managed to achieve an apparently impossible goal: eliminating CO2 emissions from the production process and the final product, without affecting its value, indeed increasing it. To do this, he experimented and used a new technology, HYBRIT. SSAB has now filed a portfolio of patents on the technology so it can be shared with the world. They have also launched an online knowledge sharing platform for information exchange.

“We have demonstrated that there is a working technology to produce fossil-free steel. We cannot change the entire industry on our own. Others must act quickly as well to keep the Paris Agreement goals alive. I hope our industry colleagues seize this opportunity to transform our industry from a climate enemy to a climate hero,” said Martin Pei, CTO of SSAB at COP27. To make the extent of this result clear, SSAB has bottled some of the water by-product, calling it Pure Waste. “A bottle of Pure Waste from the HYBRIT pilot plant, says Martin Pei, CTO of SSAB, is the best proof of what this technology means. We are moving from emitting CO2 to emitting water which can be easily recycled. an incredible possibility to say the least.”

To arrive at a single definition of green steel, SAAB has also signed an Environmental Protection Declaration (EPD), which will be reviewed by a third party and conforms to stringent European and international standards. This insurance will serve to cover all aspects of the steelmaking process, providing a fossil-free value chain to customers and end users. SSAB’s fossil-free steels will be created following the current downstream steel production and heat treatment process, but will be produced, thanks to HYBRIT technology, exclusively with electricity and fossil-free biofuels.

The commitment to produce carbon neutral steel extends to SSAB’s entire steelmaking process, starting with iron ore obtained using fossil-free mining. In the next stage, coal and coke will traditionally be used in the blast furnace process to remove oxygen from iron ore and create iron. In the HYBRIT process, SSAB intends to replace coal and coke with gaseous hydrogen as a sustainable alternative. Water vapor will therefore be emitted instead of CO2.