Vale and Green Energy Park (GEP) announced a partnership to offer decarbonization solutions for the global steel sector.
The companies will develop feasibility studies for the set-up of a green hydrogen production unit in Brazil to supply a future Mega Hub, an industrial complex to produce in Brazil low-carbon steel products.
The association of the companies will include a platform, open to international partnerships, in which global steel companies will be able to acquire and produce hot-briquetted iron (HBI) in Brazil and accelerate the growth of the low-carbon steel industry.
According to Vale’s energy and decarbonization VP, Ludmila Nascimento, the company is benefitting from Brazil's competitive advantages, such as high-quality iron ore and abundant renewable energy to develop the supply of green hydrogen, which will allow for the offer of a “green” HBI with high added value to European steel mills.
She added that Vale is inducing the “neo-industrialization” of Brazil, based on a low-carbon economy, contributing to the fight against climate change.
Considering all the value chain of the steel industry, for each ton of steel produced in blast furnaces, two tons of carbon dioxide are released in the atmosphere against 0.4 tons emitted when the HBI produced using green hydrogen as reductant is used as feedstock to electric arc furnaces.
