POWER October 2020 - 13

GLOBAL MONITOR
roaring back, we'll be right back there at
the margin, certainly in Mexico and other
jurisdictions I'm sure, that will need immediate
investment in the power sector.
I think it will lead to increased economic
activity in Latin America, and we will see
the power sector in Latin America ramp
right back up to pre-COVID activity levels, "
said Barajas.
-Darrell Proctor is associate editor
for POWER.
Swedish Companies Jointly
Explore Hydrogen-Based
Production of Steel
Swedish energy company Vattenfall,
mining company LKAB, and steel manufacturer
SSAB in September started the
world's first pilot plant to produce " fossilfree "
steel in Lulea, Sweden (Figure 3).
As part of a joint initiative dubbed " HYBRIT, "
the three companies plan to perform
tests in several stages to explore
the use of hydrogen produced via renewable
and nuclear power as a replacement
for coking coal in the direct reduction of
iron (DRI) ore.
According to the companies, global
steel demand is only slated to continue
to rise as the world's population grows
and urbanization expands. However,
it is already one of the largest carbonemitting
industries. As HYBRIT explains
it, the ore-based steelmaking value chain
starts at the iron ore mine, where the ore
is processed in the form of pellets, or
" fines. " At the steelmaking site, the iron
ore is converted to metallic iron by reduction
of the iron ore pellets with coke
in a blast furnace. In the furnace, the iron
oxide and carbon react to form carbon
monoxide and carbon dioxide gases,
as well as liquid metallic iron (which is
further processed before being cast as
semi-finished steel).
While this blast furnace approach
route dominates most ironmaking, another
approach used in parts of the world
where natural gas is abundant is to use
a so-called " direct reduction process, "
where natural gas replaces coke as the
main reductant, and the main product is
solid " sponge " iron. However, in this process,
the iron still needs to be melted using
an electric arc furnace before steel is
produced. HYBRIT's process essentially
emulates the direct reduction process,
but it uses hydrogen gas as the main reductant
instead of natural gas.
HYBRIT said a pre-feasibility study for
the concept completed in 2017 showed
no major " unknown " technical obstacles,
allowing construction for the unique test
facility in Lulea to begin in summer 2018.
At the pilot plant the three companies
plan to carry out a series of tests between
2021 and 2024, first with natural gas, and
eventually with hydrogen produced by
electrolysis of water. The project will then
move into a 10-year demonstration phase,
and HYBRIT's goal for now is to produce
fossil-free steel by 2035.
If all goes well, the effort will yield
a process that could be 20% to 30%
cheaper than that for producing crude
steel. That's because " cost structures
of fossil and fossil-free value chains
are strongly dependent on the prices
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3. This September, HYBRIT, a joint initiative owned by Swedish energy company Vattenfall,
mining company LKAB, and steel manufacturer SSAB, began test operations at a new pilot plant
to produce " fossil-free " steel in Lulea, Sweden. Courtesy: HYBRIT
October 2020 | POWER
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13

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POWER October 2020

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