One of world’s leading manufacturer of tool steel for industrial tools, Uddeholm is testing liquefied biogas (LBG) in Sweden as part of its efforts to find sustainable ways for the production of steel. Skangas is to supply Swedish LBG to the Uddeholm production plant from the parent company Gasum Group’s Lidköping biogas facility.
Uddeholm is now testing liquefied biogas (LBG) in its production. Four years ago, the company replaced heavy fuel oil (HFO) with liquefied natural gas (LNG). LBG can replace LNG and can be used directly into the same processes.
The reason is that both gases consist mainly of methane, they are interchangeable and thus the same LNG supply chain can be used. By replacing natural gas with biomethane, Uddeholm will reduce its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from production even further.
As part of our efforts to find new suitable fuels that are renewable, we are looking for flexible alternatives to achieve a sustainable society as part of our steel business. By replacing natural gas with biogas (biomethane), we will reduce CO2 emissions from our production even further. Our customer promise is to always produce steel that is as environmentally friendly as possible. This is our first-ever delivery of liquefied biogas. LBG currently plays a small, but nevertheless important, role in Uddeholm’s heat production, said Johnny Sjöström, Managing Director, from Uddeholm.
Liquefied biomethane (LBG) is similar to liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a product. LBG is produced through the processing of various types of organic waste. It is a renewable and environmentally friendly fuel made from 100 percent local feedstocks.
Biogas is produced in digester tanks (bioreactors) where methane gas is generated. By passing this gas through a purification process, the product is upgraded to 97% (±1%) methane. The gas is liquefied by cooling it to a temperature of minus 150–170 °C for delivery as LBG from Skangas’s parent company Gasum’s biogas facility in Lidköping, Sweden.
The fact that Uddeholm wants to test LBG directly in its production shows that investment in infrastructure linked to natural gas and biogas is the right way to go green. The same infrastructure can be used without any modifications for the most environmentally friendly of the fossil fuels, that is, natural gas, as well as for biogas, which is 100% renewable,” says Tommy Mattila, Director, Sales and Marketing, from Skangas.
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About voestalpine
Austria-headed voestalpine AG is a leading technology and capital goods group with combined material and processing expertise. Within over 500 Group companies in four divisions, the Group focuses on product and system solutions based on steel and other high-quality metals in technology-intensive industries and niches. Based in Sweden, Uddeholms AB is leading manufacturer of tool steel for industrial tools and is incorporated as a subsidiary of voestalpine High Performance Metals GmbH.
