Vale ships first ore briquette for European tests

Vale concluded last week the shipment of its first cargo of iron ore briquette to be tested in a blast furnace outside of Brazil. The 8,000-tonne consignment was dispatched from the Port of Açu to the Port of Rotterdam and will be tested at a European customer’s facility in May, the miner says.

The briquette’s behaviour during the shipment, estimated to last 20 days, and its performance in the steel mill’s blast furnace will be tested. In Brazil, 70,000t of briquette have already been industrially tested in six different blast furnaces. During the Brazil tests, the briquette succeeded in attending the process requests, allowing the production and operational parameters of the blast furnace to be maintained, Vale says.

“This is another important milestone on our path to providing low-carbon emission solutions for the global steel industry. With the industrial tests we can gain the confidence of strategic partners who will be the leaders in the use of briquette in the coming years,” Rogério Nogueira, Vale director of product and business development, says in a note sent to Kallanish.

The product can replace sinter, pellet and lump in blast furnaces and pellet in direct reduction furnaces, reducing the emission of pollutants and greenhouse gases when compared to traditional processes of iron ore agglomeration – pelletising and sintering. The substitution of the sintering stage allows for the potential reduction of carbon emissions by up to 10%.

The cargo shipped last week was produced at a demonstration plant in São Paulo state. Vale is building two briquette plants at its Tubarão Unit in Vitória, with capacity for 6 million tonnes/year. Start-up of the first plant is planned for mid-year.

Adam Smith Poland