Brazilian mining company Vale has signed an agreement with the state of Pará in the north of the country to build a plant for the production of "green" iron. Environmental permit for this project was obtained at the end of last year .
The investment volume of the new business, which will be located in the city of Maraba, will be 1.6 billion reais ($345 million). Its capacity will be 250 thousand tons/year and with a possible expansion, it will increase to 500 thousand tons and it is planned to be put into operation in 2025.
The new facility will use technology developed by Tecnored, which is owned by Vale. Sugarcane, corn stalks etc. It provides the use of syngas and biomass instead of coal - waste resulting from its processing. Non-agglomerated iron ore from the nearby Carajas mining and processing plant will also be used as raw material.
According to Vale, the cost of pig iron will be 10-15% less than in the traditional blast furnace process, due to the absence of the need to produce sinter and coke. In addition, carbon dioxide emissions from the use of biomass will be zero.
Currently, "green" pig iron is produced using Tecnored technology at a pilot plant with an annual capacity of 75,000 tons near the city of Sao Paulo. The new Vale project will be the first application of this technology on a large industrial scale.
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