Vale and China’s CSU establish hydrogen steel industry laboratory

The Brazilian mining company Vale and China’s Central South University (CSU) in Hunan Province have set up a joint laboratory for low-carbon and hydrogen metallurgy. This is reported by Kallanish.

The laboratory in Changsha focuses on basic and applied research in the field of low-carbon and hydrogen steel technologies. It currently has six main research modules, including iron ore processing and pretreatment, direct reduction, and hydrogen steel industry. The laboratory will operate three main test facilities.

In February 2024, Vale donated $5.81 million to the laboratory. The company has equipped it with more than 100 sets of research equipment, including sintering furnaces, multifunctional high-temperature furnaces and hydrogen reduction furnaces.

Rogério Carneiro, Vale’s director of ferrous metals development and applications, said that the creation of the joint Vale-CSU laboratory is part of the company’s efforts to reduce Scope 3 emissions – the miner aims to cut them by 15% by 2035.

As GMK Center reported earlier, RINA, a multinational company headquartered in Italy, has announced the launch of a six-year Hydra research project. It involves the creation of a pilot plant that runs on 100% hydrogen fuel. As part of the project, RINA will also establish a training center to collect and disseminate know-how related to the design, implementation, and deployment of hydrogen-based decarbonization technologies. The center will become a permanent international research and development platform.