HYBRIT pilot
SSAB, LKAB and Vattenfall · Luleå · SE · Steel · decarbonisation
100 tonnes of sponge iron produced
HYBRIT pilot is SSAB, LKAB and Vattenfall's steel project at Luleå, Sweden.
Why it matters
It is running.
- HYBRIT pilot started operating on 21 June 2021. as of 2021-06-21
- It is at Luleå, Sweden. as of 2021-06-21
- It uses hydrogen direct reduction and renewable hydrogen supply. as of 2021-06-21
- It is built for 100 tonnes of sponge iron produced. as of 2021-06-21
- No committed public money is on file for it. as of 2021-06-21
Where HYBRIT pilot is
HYBRIT pilot is at HYBRIT pilot plant, Luleå. Also in frame: 1 site using the same technology.
filled: operating, commissioning or under constructionhollow: announced, funded, or pausedringed: this project
65.5557° N 22.2057° EHYBRIT pilot plant, Luleå
as of 2026-06-24
Status
- Announced
- Funded
- FID taken
- In construction
- 2021-06-21Test production of the world's first hydrogen-reduced sponge iron completed at the pilot unit; around 100 tonnes made.source
Technology and measures
- Hydrogen direct reductionpilotThe reducing gas is hydrogen rather than natural gas, so what leaves the furnace is water rather than CO2. It is the only route that takes the chemistry of ironmaking to near zero, and it is separated from the conversion itself because every European unit under construction is being commissioned on natural gas and switched later.
- Renewable hydrogen supplydemonstrationThe electrolysers, power contracts and pipelines that have to deliver hydrogen at industrial volume and at a price the iron pays for, and which no single steel site can build for itself. It stands beside CO2 transport and storage as the other thing that sector is waiting for rather than doing. IT IS NOW SHARED. Steel reached it as a dependency; the hydrogen dataset reaches it as the thing being built, so the technology carries both sectors rather than being duplicated under a second name.
Funding
No public capital recorded for this project.