The HYBRIT project has inaugurated the first pilot facility to store hydrogen, which will later be used to produce iron and steel free of fossil fuels. The cavern is located in Luleå, Sweden.
SSAB, LKAB and Vattenfall have just inaugurated the pilot facility for HYBRIT, a joint project for fossil-free hydrogen gas storage in Luleå, Sweden.
The rock cavern storage facility it is the first of its kind in the world and the groundbreaking ceremony marks the start of the two-year trial period, which will run until 2024.
This initiative started in 2016 and the three associated companies want it to play a role in the overall value chain for the fossil fuel-free iron and steel production.
In August 2021, the world’s first fossil-free steel with HYBRIT technology was produced and delivered to the customer
Thanks to this storage system, it will be possible to guarantee a constant production of sponge iron, the main raw material for the production of steel free of fossil fuels, when the electrical system is under pressure due to high demand or low production.
The sponge ironalso called direct reduced iron, is the purest form of this metal and is produced from iron ore prepared in the form of lumps, granules, or fines.
HYBRID technology replaces the blast furnace process, which uses coal to remove oxygen from iron ore, with a direct reduction process using fossil-free hydrogen gas. Instead of carbon dioxide (CO₂), the byproduct turns into water.
Natural gas technique adapted to hydrogen
Lined rock cavern (LRC) gas storage technology is not new, as it has been used in southern Sweden for 20 years to store natural gas.
The HYBRIT project seeks to take the next step with the development of hydrogen gas storage, and the storage facility will also be used more dynamicallyfilling and emptying at the rate of hydrogen production.
The pilot plant has a size of 100 cubic meters. At a later stage, a large-scale gaseous hydrogen storage facility of 100,000 to 120,000 cubic meters may be required.
In that case, you can store up to 100 GWh of electricity converted into hydrogen gas, enough to supply a sponge iron factory for three to four days.
Hydrogen storage in cavern in 4 keys
- Construction of the facility began in May 2021. Hydrogen storage will be tested using technology known as LRC (Lined Rock Cavern). This means that the gas is stored underground in a rock cavern whose walls are lined with a selected material as a sealing layer.
- Fossil-free hydrogen gas is produced by water electrolysis using fossil-free electricity.
- It is important to build on rock of a type that maintains its good qualities. For example, the bedrock of Svartöberget (Luleå) consists mainly of amphibolite with pegmatite elements and red granite.
- The rock cavern at Svartöberget, where the gas is stored, is about 30 meters below ground level and 100 meters from the entrance.
“Using HYBRIT technology, SSAB can reduce Sweden’s CO₂ emissions by 10%”says Martin Pei, CTO of SSAB.
In August 2021, SSAB produced the world’s first fossil-free steel, produced with HYBRIT technology and already delivered to the customer.
The total investment of SSAB, LKAB and Vattenfall for this project is SEK 259 million (about 24.2 million euros). For its part, the Swedish Energy Agency contributes 72 million Swedish crowns (about 6.7 million euros).
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Photos: HYBRID