Vale and Green Energy Park’s (GEP) ‘Mega Hub’ in Brazil, designed to produce clean hydrogen for processing iron ore into hot briquetted iron (HBI) for export, has been recognised as a flagship EU project.
As part of this initiative, they will develop a hydrogen production unit to supply clean hydrogen for HBI production at the Vale-GEP Mega Hub.
The project was first selected as part of the EU’s €300bn ($328bn) Global Gateway Programme in the Climate and Energy Category last December, and now it has been recognised as a flagship project.
Bart Biebuyck, CEO of GEP, called the Global Gateway tool a “win-win situation for Europe and partner countries like Brazil.”
After the project was endorsed by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, Marian Schuegraf, Ambassador to the Delegation of the EU and Brazil, called the Vale-GEP initiative is a “priority.”
“Supporting such initiatives, connecting and strengthening value chains on both sides of the Atlantic and to mutual benefit, is a priority for the EU under the Global Gateway Investment Agenda.”
The project is also part of the ‘Brazil North-East Green Energy Parks and Green Shipping Corridors’ initiative, which highlights the nation’s advantages in renewable hydrogen production combined with Vale’s iron ore supply.
The two companies are now undergoing feasibility studies for the installation of a green hydrogen production unit in Brazil, which will supply the future steel Mega Hub.
However, the production unit’s electrolyser capacity has not yet been confirmed. At the Mega Hub, Vale plans to produce HBI using green hydrogen and electric arc furnaces (EAFs), claiming this could cut steel production emissions by 80%, reducing CO2 output to 0.4 tonnes per tonne of steel.
Rogério Nogueira, Vale’s Executive Vice-President for Commercial and Development, said, “We have gained another boost to attract other partners to support us in making this project viable, which we consider fundamental for Brazil’s low-carbon economy.”
Vale is expanding its green hydrogen-based steel production initiatives. Last year, the firm signed a multi-year agreement with H2 Green Steel for iron ore pellets.
SteelWatch: Import green DRI, not hydrogen and iron ore
Importing green hydrogen-based sponge iron from renewable-rich countries could reduce shipping volumes by nearly 75% compared to producing it locally with imported hydrogen and iron ore, according to new SteelWatch analysis.
The steel decarbonisation advocacy group said that local direct reduced iron (DRI) production in regions like northern Europe would take around four times more shipping capacity for hydrogen and iron ore than shipping the end product.
It said the inputs for a local 2.5 million tonne per annum (mtpa) direct reduced iron (DRI) plant total of 3.5 million cubic metres of hydrogen and iron ore would need to be imported.
In stark contrast, it estimates shipping 2.5 mtpa of green sponge iron from an overseas DRI plant, with locally available hydrogen and iron ore, involves moving just 0.75-1 million cubic metres of material.
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