LKAB's processing plants have now reached a level at which pellets can be produced with 100 percent bio-oil instead of coal and petroleum-based oil.
Use of fossil-free fuel, instead of coal and oil, in LKAB's pellet process is a necessary step towards the achievement of the goal of HYBRIT: to be first in the world to create a value chain for fossil-free steel and thereby reduce Sweden's total carbon dioxide emissions by 10 percent. HYBRIT is SSAB:s, LKAB:s and Vattenfall’s initiative to create the world’s first value chain for fossil-free steel. The fossil-free iron ore pellets are the initial stage in the value chain, after mining, and a prerequisite for fossil-free steel from the steelmakers.
In June HYBRIT commissioned a bio-oil plant at LKAB's industrial site in Malmberget to supply LKAB's existing processing plant with bio-oil, fuel which will replace coal and petroleum-based oil. By using biofuel as a heat source for one of LKAB's pelletizing plants, fossil carbon emissions from the Malmberget operation can be reduced by as much as 40 percent.
Concurrently, trials with other carbon-dioxide-free and fossil-free heating technologies are now under way at LKAB's experimental plant in Luleå.