Vale SA announces that its subsidiary Vale USA has been selected by the United States Government Department of Energy to begin negotiations aimed at granting financing under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act . of Inflation), as part of the Industrial Demonstrations Program . Vale plans to develop an innovative iron ore briquettes industrial unit in the USA, the first in the world to apply the patented cold agglomeration process of briquettes to the direct reduction route.
Vale’s project was selected through a mechanism focused on encouraging innovative technologies that can deliver commercial-scale solutions to provide significant emissions reductions in difficult-to-abate sectors.
Announced by Vale in 2021, after almost 20 years of development at the Vale Technological Center in Minas Gerais, the briquette is produced from the low-temperature agglomeration of high-quality iron ore, using a technological solution of binders that give the product final high mechanical resistance. The first plant in the world was opened by Vale in 2023, in Vitória (ES).
According to Vale, the selection by the United States Department of Energy “represents a critical step towards validating Vale’s proprietary cold agglomeration technology and its potential to deliver a transformative solution to decarbonize the steel sector, and highlights the leadership of Vale and Brazil in developing decarbonization solutions for the global steel industry”.
The financing to be negotiated by Vale for the project in the USA will be up to US$282.9 million and aims to develop additional and customized units in Brazil and around the world, to reach around 100 Mtpy of pellet production in 2030+, including briquettes and iron ore pellets.
Iron ore briquette contributes to fulfilling Vale’s commitment to reduce 15% of its net scope 3 emissions by 2035. The company also seeks to reduce its absolute scope 1 and 2 emissions by 33% by 2030 and achieve neutrality by 2050, in line with the ambition of the Paris Agreement .
