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A crucial element in Ovako’s drive for a more sustainable steel-making future has been the conversion of our furnaces that reheat steel before rolling to burn environmentally friendly gas rather than oil. But part of the puzzle was missing, because the furnace at our Boxholm mill in Sweden was the last across all our sites to still be fueled by oil and air. Now we are pleased to say that we have passed an important milestone.

In August 2024 we brought our new completely rebuilt and upgraded furnace online, burning an oxyfuel mix of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) and oxygen. 

The role of the furnace

The Boxholm facility comprises a fine section mill for producing round and flat bar, and a medium section mill for producing profiles. Before rolling, the furnace is needed to heat the steel to a temperature close to 1300°C. It has the capability to handle up to 50,000 tons a year.

Investment and upgrades

Rebuilding and upgrading the furnace required years of planning, an investment of some Euro 5 million and a six-week shutdown over the summer. A critical element in the project was to replace the infrastructure for oil with piping for LPG. The furnace has also been completely reshaped with new burner zones to ensure better combustion as well as a new chimney. The safety and control systems have also been upgraded to the state-of-the-art.

Future-ready design

While the furnace is now running on the oxyfuel mixture, a key aim in the upgrade was to ensure that we had the future flexibility to use any suitable gas as fuel. For example, we could possibly use biogas, which is an environmentally friendly, renewable energy source produced by the breakdown of organic matter such as food scraps, animal waste or forest biomass. Another exciting possibility is to use hydrogen, maybe even produced on site from an electrolysis plant, like we already do at Hofors. This will make the heating process even more environmentally friendly, and our long-term goal is to use hydrogen as fuel across all our sites. 

Sustainability benefits

The sustainability benefits of the new furnace are impressive. First there has been a major reduction in our energy usage, which has been cut from 780 kWh/ton to a current 378 kWh/ton. And this is likely to improve even further as we continue to refine the furnace operation. The 50% reduction in the fuel we burn leads naturally to a reduction in CO2 emissions – and the difference is massive. Where we once generated 210 kg of CO2 for each ton of steel heated, this is now down to 80 kg. The total reduction of CO2 will be 6000-7000 tons per year.

Commitment to sustainability

Commissioning the new furnace at Boxholm is a clear example of Ovako’s commitment to responsible and long-term steel production, and it underscores our leadership in the sustainable transformation of the steel industry. We plan to celebrate this initiative in March 2025, with an official inauguration ceremony to be attended by our senior management, employees and key stakeholders. 

Transitioning our Imatra mill to fossil-free district heating 

Another of our sustainability initiatives has focused on heating people rather than steel. Because at our Imatra mill in south-east Finland, the transition to fossil-free district heating will bring significant cost savings and reduce the mill's CO2 emissions by approximately 1,600 tons per year. 

The buildings outside Ovako Imatra’s industrial area, such as the head office, were connected to district heating in 2023. Now Imatran Lämpö, the local producer and supplier of district heating, is expanding its distribution network to include the industrial area.  

Previously, the buildings in the mill’s industrial area were heated with steam, which required about 8 gigawatt hours (GWh) of natural gas annually. Going forward, the need for district heating will be roughly half of that. 

- The transition to renewable district heating is an important step for the Imatra mill in achieving the Ovako Group’s climate targets. The emissions at the Imatra mill have already been halved compared to 2015, and the target is to reduce them by 80% by 2030. 

Our sustainability leadership highlighted by Nordea

Ovako featured in Nordea’s Large Corporates & Institutions Magazine, where our sustainability journey takes center stage. In the article, Ovako's CFO Erik Bohman shares insights on how we have achieved one of the industry’s lowest CO2 footprints and how initiatives like our hydrogen plant are shaping the future of sustainable steel production.

In the fall of 2024, we launched our podcast STÅLVERKET, where we invite listeners into the fascinating world of steel production. Through exciting reports and interviews with both employees and industry experts, we explore everything from innovation and sustainability to what it's like to work in a modern steel mill. It's currently only in Swedish however we are in talks to release another season in English, so stay tuned...

Please invite any of your colleagues/networks to join us as we look forward to bringing you news of interesting aspects of the steel business world.

Stay tuned for more exciting updates as we continue to shape the future of steel and redefine what's possible.

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