SSAB selects Danieli as mill supplier

Italy-based metals production and recycling technology provider Danieli & C. S.p.A. has signed an early service agreement (ESA) with Sweden-based steelmaker SSAB on the pre-engineering and engineering phases of a minimill project in Luleå, Sweden.

In April, SSAB’s board of directors announced it will close the current blast furnace/basic oxygen furnace (BOF) production system in Luleå to replace it with electric arc furnace (EAF) equipment.

Under the service agreement, Danieli will supply a "highly automated minimill solution," consisting of two electric arc furnaces, secondary metallurgy, caster and strip mill.

Once converted to EAF production, the reopened mill will be supplied with a mix of fossil-free sponge iron, also known as hot briquetted iron, or HBI, from the Hybrit demonstration plant in Gällivare, Sweden, and recycled scrap.

The newly configured Luleå mill will have a capacity of 2.5 million metric tons per year and consist of two EAFs, a direct strip rolling mill to produce SSAB’s specialty products, and a cold rolling complex to serve the mobility segment with a broader offering of premium products.

The melt shop configuration has been designed to consist of two Danieli DigiMelters featuring a Q-One power feeder, continuous scrap charge and a Melt Model suite for dynamic control of the melting profile.

A "new generation of tunnel furnaces" makes use of a combination of induction modules and electrical resistances.

“Total quality management using DigiMelt solutions and robotics will make the plant highly automated from scrap handling to the coil yard,” the company says.

The startup of the new mill is planned for the end of 2028, according to Danieli, with full operating capacity following one year later. Environmental permits are expected to be issued at the end of this year.

When completed, SSAB will decommission the existing blast furnace-based production system in Luleå, a move that would reduce Sweden’s CO₂ emissions by 7 percent in addition to the 3 percent from the conversion project at the SSAB mill in Oxelösund, Sweden, which is underway.