Fossil-Free Mining of the Future

Achieving environmental goals in rock material production requires not only a transition to fossil and emission-free operations, but also new thinking in terms of process and new machine concepts.

Objective

The potential for emission reductions is very large. In 2019, there were 777 quarries in operation in Sweden, which according to SGU will increase by 20-30 per year as natural gravel is phased out. The goal is to make this process fossil-free. It is estimated that this project can cover 84 - 152 ktonnes of CO2-equivalents in Sweden alone, and exchange up to 3.6-6.6 Mtons in Europe, not counting the rest of the world.

Implementation

This project focuses on the system perspective and includes what new disruptive machine concept and how energy infrastructure should be designed, focusing on productivity, flexibility, economy and the demands on the electricity grid. In a unique transcendent collaboration, a complete primary load system, with deep machine concepts, will be developed and tested.