SSAB has received a permit from the Land and Environmental Court in Umeå to build and operate a mini-mill in Luleå, Sweden, that will replace the current steel plant.
“This is a big day for us at SSAB and for the transformation to fossil-free steel production in Sweden.''
Johnny Sjöström, president and CEO, SSAB
“This is a big day for us at SSAB and for the transformation to fossil-free steel production in Sweden. Now we can proceed with an investment that will result in reduced climate impact of national significance. At the same time, we safeguard jobs in Luleå, create a more flexible and cost-effective production and strengthen our and our customers’ competitiveness with a wider offering of unique premium products,” said Johnny Sjöström, president and CEO at SSAB.
The plan is to decommission the current blast furnace-based production system once the mini-mill with electric arc furnaces, rolling complexes and further processing is running at full capacity. The mini-mill will run on fossil-free electricity and be supplied with a mix of fossil-free sponge iron produced with SSAB’s HYBRIT technology (hydrogen reduction of iron ore) and recycled scrap as the raw material.
''We have gone through an extensive process with this application and subsequent correspondence, and we are very pleased that it has now resulted in a permit.”
Sara Arvidson, director of environmental permits, SSAB’s Transformation Office
“This is an important step toward achieving on both our own and Sweden’s climate goals, and the sooner the transformation happens, the better it will be for the climate and for the environment. We have gone through an extensive process with this application and subsequent correspondence, and we are very pleased that it has now resulted in a permit,” commented Sara Arvidson, director of environmental permits at SSAB’s Transformation Office.
The transformation in Luleå will result in reductions of emissions to air and water, increase resource efficiency and remove about 2.8Mt of annual carbon dioxide emissions, the company has said.