Swedish manufacturer of environmentally friendly steel HYBRIT has made the world's first delivery of a "revolutionary" metal. According to Reuters, the company plans to radically change the steel industry, which now accounts for about eight percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.
The first customer of HYBRIT was the automobile company Volvo — it received a trial batch of pure steel, the start of commercial production of which is planned for the beginning of 2026.
The Swedish company began testing carbon-free steel smelting technology in 2020 at a plant in the city of Lulea in the north of the country. For the production of ordinary steel, coal is needed, but HYBRIT has replaced it with electricity and "green" hydrogen.
Representatives of the steel company SSAB, which accounts for 10 percent of carbon emissions in Sweden and 7 percent in Finland, believe that the trial supply of pure steel is an important step towards the industry's rejection of fossil fuels.
Another company — H2 Green Steel — plans to build a plant in the north of Sweden for the production of environmentally friendly steel. In addition to metal, the company will start producing hydrogen from renewable sources from 2024.
Russia is also engaged in reducing emissions from metallurgy. In April, En+ Group successfully produced aluminum with a minimum carbon footprint. There is only 0.01 tons of CO2 per ton of metal-such aluminum is considered to be more than 99 percent environmentally friendly.
Nina Tashevskaya