The production of the mining company's "green briquette" will initially be carried out at pelletizing plants 1 and 2, in the state of Espírito Santo

Yesterday (09/09), the mining company Vale presented a new product, developed over almost 20 years, which could reduce by up to 10% the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the steel production of its steelmaking customers. The “green briquette” will initially be made at pelletizing plants 1 and 2, at the Tubarão Unit, in Vitória, Espírito Santo, which are being converted for this purpose. Around 800 new jobs will be generated during production. Also see this news: Mining company Vale fights in court with Aneel over hydroelectric power plant

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Watch an interesting video about Embrapa's Green Briquette

Adaptation of two plants in the Tubarão Complex, in Espírito Santo

Two plants in the Tubarão Complex, in Vitória, in the state of Espírito Santo, will be adapted to manufacture the new product and, according to the mining company Vale, 800 jobs will be created in this process in 2022. Another 120 jobs will be needed to operate the structures.

Vale's plants 1 and 2 have been idle since 2019. It is there that the green briquettes will be manufactured, which are made up of fine and superfine iron ore and an agglomerating formula (a type of "glue"), capable of withstanding the temperature. blast furnace of steel mills without disintegrating.

The initial production capacity is approximately 7 million tons per year. The start-up of the three plants (two in Espírito Santo and one in Minas Gerais) is scheduled for 2023. Investment by the mining company Vale totals US$ 185 million. It is estimated that, in the long term, the company will have the capacity to produce over 50 million tons per year2 of “green briquettes”, which would lead to a potential reduction of emissions of more than 6 million tons of carbon equivalent per year. year using technology.

The development of the “green briquette” by Vale

The new product began to be developed in 2004 by researchers from Vale's Ferrous Technology Management, in Vitória (ES). In 2008, management was absorbed by the Ferrous Technology Center (CTF), in Nova Lima (MG), where studies on briquettes continued. The CTF is a high-level research unit created by the company to develop products that improve the performance of industrial processes for Vale's steelmaking customers.

The first industrial tests took place in 2019 in a charcoal oven. In 2020, large-scale coke oven tests were carried out. “Based on the satisfactory results, we considered that we were ready to start building the first plants to launch the product commercially”, says Ferrous Marketing Director, Rogerio Nogueira.

Since announcing the scope 3 target, Vale has been formalizing partnerships with steelmaking clients to discuss decarbonization projects. In a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with Ternium, on August 19th, for example, it was agreed to start technical and economic studies to assess the feasibility of building a “green briquette” plant located on the steelworks premises in Brazil.