Vale Opens The World's First Iron Ore Compaction Plant in Brazil

Vale - Nearly 20 years of research by Vale Laboratories opened a new chapter on Tuesday (12th). Vale CEO Eduardo Bartolomeo symbolically opened the world's first iron ore compaction plant at the Tubarang Integrated Operating Area in Victoria, Espirito Santo, Brazil. The briquetting product developed by Vale has the potential to revolutionize the steel industry, reducing greenhouse gas emissions in blast furnaces by up to 10% and, in the future, enabling zero-emission steel production using green hydrogen.
"We are about to offer a product that will support our customers in the steel manufacturing industry to adapt to the emission reduction targets set by governments around the world, thereby contributing to the fight against climate change." "In addition, we are leading a new type of industrialization in Brazil, which will be based on low-carbon industries, and Vale will once again fulfill its mission as a pillar of regional development," Mr. Boendal said.
At the inauguration of the iron ore baling plant, the Governor of the state of Espirito Santo, Mr. Renato Casagrande, highlighted the consistency of Vale's decarbonization plan with that of the state, saying: "Our decarbonisation plan is to reduce emissions by 27% by 2030, 50% by 2040 and 100% by 2050, and Vale will play an important role in this process. We will take further steps to achieve sustainable development."
Ricardo Ferra?, deputy governor of the state of Espirito Santo and director of the Development Department. Mr. o) said: "It was in the state of Espirito Santo that Brazil established its first domestic iron ore pelletizing plant. Thanks to the extraordinary research and development work carried out by Vale employees, we are about to present to the world the first iron ore compaction plant, which will emit less carbon dioxide and is therefore part of our project to decarbonize our economy."
The first compaction plant started load testing in August this year and the results are positive, which makes it possible to start operations in 2023. A second compaction plant, also located in the Tuklang Integrated Operating Area, is scheduled to start operations in early 2024. The two compaction plants will have a combined annual capacity of 6 million tons, with a total investment of $256 million and 2,300 jobs created at the peak of construction.
More than 30 companies are interested in receiving the blocks in 2024. As the compacts are an innovative product, the compacts produced within the first two years will be used for testing in the customer's factory. Companies interested in using the block are mainly from Europe and the Middle East, with others coming from all over the world, including Brazil, where demand is more than a year old. In 2024, the total annual production capacity of the two compaction plants in Tuklang will reach approximately 2.5 million tons, and will gradually reach 6 million tons thereafter.
"The interest shown by our customers in the blocks gives us great confidence that this product will revolutionize steel production." Marcello Spinelli, Executive Vice President, Iron Ore Solutions, Vale, said: "The decarbonisation of the steel industry will be achieved in stages. In the beginning, our customers will look for ways to improve the efficiency of the blast furnace production, thereby reducing energy consumption and reducing CO2 emissions. The compaction is already in play at this stage. Finally, when the green hydrogen is utilized, the compacting blocks will facilitate zero-emission steel production, which will be achieved through the direct reduction path, which is' cleaner 'than blast furnaces."
Iron ore compaction: Innovation in Brazil
The laminating products use an adhesive technology solution made from high-quality iron ore pressed at low temperatures, and the final product has high mechanical strength. Vale announced in 2021 that it would launch a laminated product. Compared with the traditional pelleting process, the compaction process emits fewer particles and gases such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, and the production process does not require water.
The development of the briquette product was started about 20 years ago at the Vale Ferrous Metals Technology Center (CTF) in Nuevo Lima, Minas Gerais. The idea of pressing iron ore was not new, but researchers at the time struggled to ensure that the product remained intact in blast furnaces. Vale then developed an adhesive solution to solve this problem. After laboratory testing to small furnace testing, and finally to blast furnace industrial testing, the performance and value of the extrusion products have been confirmed.
Vale is currently developing a compactor for the direct reduction path. The company has successfully tested it experimentally and has started its first industrial testing in North America.
Block and green steel path
The global steel production mainly passes through two paths, namely the blast-converter path and the direct reduction path. The blast-converter route is widely used by steel mills around the world and has high emissions due to its use of metallurgical coke (produced from metallurgical coal) as the main fuel. In the blast-converter path, the use of compacting blocks can replace the sintering process of firing iron ore powder into blocks, and thus has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 10%
In the direct reduction path, natural gas replaces metallurgical coke as the fuel, and compacted blocks and pellets are used to produce hot pressed iron blocks (HBI) - an intermediate product between iron ore and steel. The hot pressed iron blocks will then be refined into steel in an electric furnace with lower emissions than the traditional blast-converter path.
Direct reduction furnaces are used in regions such as the Middle East where natural gas is abundant and competitively priced. Last year, Vale signed deals with countries including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman to create mega-hubs. The mega hub is an industrial complex that will produce HBI and will initially use natural gas as an energy source. In the future, as green hydrogen replaces natural gas, HBI will enable green steel production with zero greenhouse gas emissions.
Vale has also signed two cooperation agreements to conduct feasibility studies on the development of mega-hubs in Brazil and the United States.
Emission reduction target
The products will help Vale achieve its strategic goal of reducing net emissions in Scope 3 by 15% by 2035. Vale has signed agreements with more than 50 customer companies to provide decarbonisation solutions, which together account for 35% of the company's Scope 3 emissions. One of the solutions proposed in these agreements is to co-locate the compaction plant in some of the customer's manufacturing locations.
Vale is also committed to reducing absolute Scope I and Scope II emissions by 33 percent by 2030 and to achieving net zero emissions by 2050.