Renewable diesel to help Finnish steel company achieve major carbon reductions in mining operation

Renewable fuel supplied by Neste enables the Outokumpu steel company’s Kemi mine and Tornio steel mill to reduce the greenhouse-gas emissions generated by their fleet and heavy machinery by an average of 90 percent. (Photo: Outokumpu)

Neste announced Oct. 6 that it and stainless-steel maker Outokumpu are deepening their cooperation to reduce greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, with Outokumpu replacing fossil fuels used by its Kemi mine and Tornio steel mill in Finland, as well as the contractors on these sites, with Neste MY Renewable Diesel™.

Outokumpu manufactures the world’s lowest-emission stainless steel, according to Neste.

Its goal is to achieve carbon neutrality at its Kemi mine by 2025.

Renewable diesel supplied by Neste enables the Kemi mine and the Tornio mill to reduce GHG emissions generated by their fleet and heavy machinery by 90 percent on average.

With the use of renewable diesel supplied by Neste, the Kemi mine’s annual GHG emissions will decrease by nearly 11,300 tons.

This will mean achieving almost 30 percent of the total carbon-neutrality target for the Kemi mine.

The three key factors contributing to achieving carbon neutrality at Outokumpu’s Kemi mine are abandoning fossil fuels (including in contractors’ fleet), using low-emission electricity, and replacing natural gas and propane with other heating methods.

Renewable fuel supplied by Neste will replace fossil fuels in heavy machinery, trains, secondary-power sources and transportation between the Kemi mine and the Tornio mill.

“Our goal at Neste is to help customers reduce their GHG emissions with our renewable and circular solutions by at least 20 million tons per year by 2030,” said Joni Pihlström, Neste business-to-business sales’ vice president of marketing and services. “I’m pleased that our long-term cooperation with Outokumpu continues, and that we can support the company in working towards its ambitious carbon-neutrality target. The use of renewable fuel at the Kemi mine and the Tornio steel mill is Neste’s most extensive mining and steel industry collaboration in Europe so far. Neste’s renewable product is suitable as such for fleet and heavy machinery running on diesel. By replacing fossil fuels with our renewable fuel in their own fleet and contractors’ fleet, Outokumpu can immediately reduce GHG emissions.”

Heidi Peltonen, vice president of sustainability at Outokumpu, added, “The carbon neutrality of the Kemi mine is an investment worth millions of euros. If achieved, it will mean a reduction of nearly 40,000 tons in Outokumpu’s GHG emissions. Our first step is to switch to renewable fuel, and we are seeking to identify all means to reduce emissions throughout the value chain and minimize our total emissions to as close to zero as possible. We are exploring opportunities to offset the remaining emissions in our value chain that cannot otherwise be reduced using currently available technologies. Our goal is to make the Kemi mine the world’s first operational carbon-neutral mine by 2025.”