The Swedish Energy Agency has announced a new round of financial support of SEK22mn ($2.5mn) to HYBRIT, which is a joint initiative of SSAB, LKAB and Vattenfall. The pilot plant for the hydrogen direct reduction of iron ore started operation in Lulea on Aug 31. In line with the growing importance of the fossil-free steel value chain.
The new funding will be used for developing plant design and logistics solutions. Also, choosing the required technology and plant location are in the next round of developments and demonstration.
The construction of the demo plant is expected to commence in 2023. The new round of funding would support unique cooperation to create a fossil-free value chain with a capacity of just over 1mn mt per year. The joint venture aims to be the world’s first fossil-free steel value chain and will start operations by 2026 as reported by Davis Index earlier.