Edward, tell us how the business idea was born and what it is like to work with your own father in a family company?
My father started researching the recycling of residual products and waste from the steel industry as early as the late 60s. He developed and tested a hydrogen-based process in a laboratory environment, after which a furnace for production use was built at a steel plant in the mid-70s. The furnace was used successfully to recover pure metals from residual products without any carbon dioxide emissions, but as environmental issues were not prioritized at this time, there was not enough industrial commitment to start using my father's new and innovative technology. Today, however, environmental and recycling issues are very central, so my father and I retrieved my father's drawings in 2016. We improved and developed his design with the help of the technological advances that have taken place over 40 years, and in 2019 we received a patent for my father's groundbreaking and sustainable solution.
Throughout my upbringing, I have experienced my father's great frustration that his solution for how to environmentally and fossil-free can increase the recycling of valuable metals has not been used. It is therefore now extremely fun and rewarding for me to be able to help realize his dream and life's work together with my father.

If you were to describe a desired scenario from now and 3 years from now, what would it look like? Where is your technology implemented and what effects can we see then?
With the help of external investors, we will now build a full-scale commercial plant and expect to be the first in the world to deliver completely fossil-free iron and steel in 2022, and thus be able to concretely start contributing to reducing the steel industry's carbon dioxide emissions to help achieve our challenging climate goals. My desired scenario is that after we have delivered our first fossil-free iron, and it has become widely known that GreenIron has both a sustainable and profitable solution to offer, all steel plants will want to take their responsibility to reduce their footprint on the environment and start using GreenIron's fossil-free solution.

What is required to reach your desired scenario? How far have you come on your journey and what steps remain?
To achieve my desired scenario, a rapid acceptance and use of GreenIron's technology is required so that we can start contributing to a reduction of unnecessary carbon dioxide emissions as quickly as possible. We therefore intend to offer our technology on license so that our solution can quickly start being used globally by the steel industry. To enable and support a rapid expansion, we also need to start building an organization with competent employees who share our values and are passionate about curbing the climate threat. That journey can begin with us succeeding in achieving the financing for the first plant through the issue that we are currently carrying out with the help of Swedbank. Photo above: Peter Knutson