The Brazilian miner said it produced industrial-scale, commercial-quality iron ore pellets for steel-making to replace the need to burn anthracite coal. Vale was able to eliminate the use of fossil fuels through biocarbon, an energy produced by carbonising biomass.
"Using biocarbon just in the Vargem Grande pellet plant will cut annual carbon dioxide emissions by roughly 350,000 metric tons, equivalent to the annual emissions of approximately 75,400 small 1-litre cars," said Rodrigo Boyer, an engineer who led the testing.
Testing on the biocarbon process will aid in Vale's work to address its ESG targets. According to the company, burning anthracite coal contributes 50% of the carbon dioxide emissions in pellet production. For Vale, pelletising accounts for 30% of total scope one emissions.
The ramp-up to the biomass pellet production was incremental, with testing growing from 50% before reaching 100%.
During the entire test process, approximately 50,000Mt of pellets were produced, of which 15,000t were made using 100% certified biocarbon.
As Rodrigo Araújo, Vale's executive manager for decarbonisation projects noted, the testing aligns with the company's net zero scope one and two carbon emissions by 2050 goals.
In the case of pelletising, the use of biocarbon is our main initiative because there is great potential for biomass production in Brazil, he said.
More broadly, Vale said it is investing between US$4 billion and US$6 billion to reduce its direct and indirect emissions by 33% over the next seven years. Part of this effort includes the deployment of electric trucks and electric underground mining equipment.
Vale will conduct more testing on the biocarbon processing through 2023.
