Sveaskog and LKAB have joined forces on an initiative that will help the mining company to phase out its use of fossil fuels by 2020.
Coal and oil account for some 2 TWh of LKAB's annual energy consumption. By fully or partially replacing these fossil fuels with biogas and other alternatives, LKAB hopes to dramatically reduce its carbon dioxide emissions.
Mr Jan Lundgren project manager at LKAB said "We can see great advantages in starting to use the energy resources that are right outside the door, instead of importing coal and oil. Now we have signed a letter of intent with Sveaskog of which one aim is to identify ways and means for making better use of energy in the form of forest raw material."
The upgrading process whereby iron ore is made into iron ore pellets requires huge amounts of energy. LKAB is a large electricity consumer. 2 TWh corresponds to about 1.5% of Sweden total electricity consumption. As part of LKAB effort to safeguard the environment and climate, the company therefore intends to successively reduce its use of fossil fuels.
Mr Jan Lundgren said "For LKAB, energy consumption has to do with cost efficiency and with meeting the environmental targets set by the EU, the Swedish state and the company itself. Switching to a greater share of renewable energy is high on the agenda and our collaboration with Sveaskog is a way of meeting the challenge."
Sveaskog, Sweden's largest forest owner and delivers in excess of 3 TWh of biofuel annually to combined power and heating plants throughout the country. Since Sveaskog has enormous forest holdings in northern Sweden, the cooperative venture is an obvious opportunity for both companies. An initial step will be to appoint a joint task group that will investigate how and to what degree biofuel can be used to meet the needs of the mining industry.
Mr Ann-Britt Edfast R&D manager at Sveaskog said "The joint task group will review various projects concerning everything from biofuel suppliers to torrefying of biomass and use of pyrolysis oil. Sveaskog is working on a broad front to find new application areas for forest raw material."
