SSAB announced in July that it had launched an extensive research project, FFS – Towards Fossil-free Steel, in Finland. In the project, SSAB will work together with industrial and research partners to explore different solutions and alternatives to produce fossil-free steel and thus the ways to withdraw entirely from the use fossil energy. The Finnish research consortium of the Towards Fossil-free Steel (FFS) project comprises SSAB, Fortum, Ovako, Valmet, Nordkalk, Tapojärvi and Luxmet. The University of Oulu, Åbo Akademi, and VTT are involved in the public research part of the project.
”In the project Fortum is exploring the production of clean hydrogen needed in the iron production process. For us at Fortum this hydrogen study is part of our strategy to help our customers reduce the environmental impacts of their operations,” says Mikko Muoniovaara, Fortum’s Team Lead of Hydrogen Business Development in Finland.
In green hydrogen production water is broken down into hydrogen and oxygen in electrolysis by using emissions-free electricity. Fortum’s study in the FFS project covers hydrogen production and the primary means to produce hydrogen. The latter is about from where and how emissions-free electricity and purified water will be sourced. The study will also examine alternatives for utilising the heat and oxygen that are by-products of the electrolysis process. The heat, for example, would be ideal for use in district heating.
Fortum is employing its own as well as Uniper’s resources for the study. Services are to be procured also from external sources. Fortum will employ two SME companies for part of the research, namely Teollisuuden Vesi Oy and AW Energy Ltd.
The FFS project has a total budget of EUR 10.7 million, and Business Finland is contributing EUR 5.6 million to the project for a period of two years.
For more information:
Mikko Muoniovaara, Team Lead, Hydrogen Business Development, tel: +358 40 162 2740, mikko [dot] muoniovaara [at] fortum [dot] com
Fortum and hydrogen
In line with our strategy, Fortum aims to build on Uniper’s first-mover position in hydrogen and our position as Europe’s third largest CO2-free power generator. Our subsidiary Uniper is a pacesetter in low-carbon hydrogen: its first Power to Gas unit in Falkenhagen, Germany, entered service back in 2013. The company is involved in all the phases of hydrogen value chain, and it has several projects in the preparatory phase around Europe. In Sweden, Fortum and Uniper are collaborating in the specialty chemicals company Perstorp’s project aiming to utilise green hydrogen in the production of sustainable methanol.