Sweden’s Höganäs Group has been granted financial support by the Swedish Energy Agency to aid the group in reaching its goal of becoming climate neutral by 2045.

An important step in reaching that goal involves replacing fossil coal with renewable biocoke, in what is called the ‘Höganäs process’, which enables carbon dioxide emissions to be reduced and, in the long term, help the Höganäs Group become fossil-free.

Thanks to the Swedish Energy Agency’s €270,000 contribution, the group states that it is now able to conduct pilot tests with climate-neutral biocoke in one of its manufacturing processes. The project will start immediately and is scheduled to run until the end of 2022.

“The project is a central part of our work to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions and become climate neutral by 2045,” stated Magnus Pettersson, Energy Coordinator.

During these pilot trials, up to one fifth of the fossil carbon will be replaced by biocoke. If this were to be implemented, it would equate to a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of 29,000 tonnes per year, approximately 13% of the company’s Swedish emissions.

“Replacing fossil coal with renewable energy is more complicated than it sounds,” commented Ryan Robinson, project leader. “Our process has been developed over more than 100 years and even small changes can have a significant impact on process and product quality. This project will give us important insights.”

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