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21.05.2018 Corporate,Sustainability

The world’s first renewable energy plant for the steel industry is now being built in Höganäs

In Höganäs, Höganäs AB and Cortus Energy are now building the world’s first plant for demonstrating, on an industrial scale, fossil-free steel production based on gasification of biomass using a new technology. This technology could revolutionise the steel industry’s work on phasing out fossul natural gas and coke.

At Höganäs AB’s industrial area in Höganäs, there is a 14-meter high gasifier on site and intensive construction work is under way to complete the plant in time for its opening in June. The plant here will produce a gas from forestry raw products that will replace natural gas in Höganäs’s production.

– The plant has the capacity to reduce Höganäs’s carbon dioxide emissions by 10,000 tonnes a year. But the first stage intends to demonstrate how the new fuel will work in the heat treatment of steel. In addition, the aim is to spread the technology so that the entire industry can phase out fossil fuels, says Magnus Pettersson, project manager at Höganäs AB.

An idea becomes a reality – eleven new employees

Until now, no alternatives to fossil fuels were available in the iron and steel industries, but Cortus Energy has developed a technology that meets the manufacturing process’s requirements for, among other things, purity and high temperatures. An idea given birth to by Cortus Energy’s founder, Rolf Ljunggren as early as in 2006 and that is now in the process of becoming a reality in Höganäs.

– We have been developing and studying the technology at a test plant in Köping since 2011 but this is the first time we have built a plant for the industry. This means upscaling the test plant to twelve times the size compared with Höganäs’s initial needs. We are employing eleven people to run the plant to begin with. After commissioning, some of them will be integrated into our process team, says Rolf Ljungren of Cortus Energy.

The investment, which is in the SEK 100 million range, is an important step in spreading the technology to more companies in the sector and contributing to reducing society’s carbon dioxide emissions, which is of great interest to companies in many parts of the world. 

– There is a tremendous amount of interest and everyone is now waiting to see the first industrial plant when it is opened in June. In Köping, we have had visitors from all the Nordic countries and also France, the Netherlands, the USA, Japan, China and Russia, says Rolf Ljunggren.

     
 

Facts

  • High temperatures and fuels that do not contaminate the product are required for iron and steel production. Until now, there have only been fossil fuel solutions, such as oil and natural gas to use as fuel, and coke as a raw product for the process.
  • The new plant in Höganäs will use forestry-based fuels, e.g., the residue from forestry felling and energy forests as a raw product.
  • The plant is based on WoodRoll® technology and replaces fossil fuels through effective gasification of biomass. As a first stage, the plant in Höganäs will produce gas energy and then possibly be supplemented so as to produce bio-coke.
  • The financing is based on a combination of grants from Klimatklivet and the Swedish Energy Agency and capital from Cortus and Höganäs. Industrial partners are ABB, Calderys, SSAB and Södra.
  • The plant means that Höganäs’s carbon dioxide emissions will reduce by 3 percent as a first step.
  
     

For further information please contact:
Ulrika Rask-Lindholm, Communication Director Höganäs, tel. +46 (0)42- 33 84 55, [email protected]
Magnus Pettersson, Energy Coordinator Höganäs, tel: +46 (0)42-33 80 72, [email protected]
Rolf Ljunggren, VD Cortus Energy, tel: +46 (0)8- 588 866 31, [email protected]

About Cortus Energy

Cortus Energy (Publ) develops and markets the unique WoodRoll® technology that gasifies biomass in a new and innovative manner, resulting in a number of unique advantages compared with all other existing gasification technologies. By means of the patented WoodRoll® technology, Cortus Energy can offer green energy solutions for power, industrial and transport applications. WoodRoll® has great fuel flexibility, which means that the process can use low-grade renewable fuels without compromising on process performance.

Cortus Energy has two plants,a test plant in Köping (2011-) and an industrial plant in the process of being built in Höganäs. Cortus Energy’s shares have been admitted to trading on Nasdaq First North. Mangold Fondkommission AB, telephone +46 (0)8-503 015 50, is the company’s Certified Adviser.

Pressekontakt

Emma Lefdal
VP Corporate Communications
+46 42 33 80 00

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