Vale and Midrex to cooperate in the use of iron ore briquettes at DR plants

Brazilian mining company Vale and Midrex Technologies have agreed to cooperate in promoting a technical solution for the use of iron ore briquettes in direct reduction plants. This is stated in a press release from Midrex.

The companies signed a technical cooperation agreement. The agreement expands the cooperation between the parties and the testing work started over the past year.

Vale’s proprietary briquetting technology produces high quality iron ore sinter as a result of a low-temperature process using a binder solution.

As noted, initial test results have shown promising results for the use of iron ore briquettes in the direct reduction process. Once the technology has been successfully demonstrated at Midrex’s plants, the partners plan to evaluate the possibility of establishing a joint venture to exclusively supply the briquette technology and equipment to the market.

“This agreement is a recognition by one of the world’s leading suppliers of direct reduction technology of the powerful potential of briquettes to decarbonize the global steel industry,” said Eduardo Bartolomeo, CEO of Vale.

According to him, it will be the start of a partnership that will play a crucial role in scaling up briquetting technology in several markets.

Currently, most direct reduction plants use iron ore pellets as feedstock. Vale’s briquetting process is an alternative to pelletizing with lower production costs, lower investment intensity and approximately 80% lower CO2 emissions.

In March this year, the US Department of Energy selected Vale USA (a subsidiary of Vale) to start negotiations on financing for the construction of an iron ore briquette plant worth up to $282.9 million in the United States.

As GMK Center reported earlier, Vale and Ternium, a leading Latin American steelmaker, will build a briquette plant in Santa Cruz, a suburb of Rio de Janeiro. In this way, Ternium aims to reduce emissions from its slab production, which is expected to decrease by 10%, as briquettes will reduce the use of sinter in the blast furnace.