RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazilian miner Vale and newcomer Hydnum Steel have signed a memorandum of understanding to study building an iron-ore briquette plant at Hydnum Steel's first factory in Spain, which will be powered by "green" hydrogen.
Hydnum Steel was recently created to be one of the first steelmakers in Europe to operate with non-fossil energy in order to cut emissions of greenhouse gases.
The steel plant, whose majority shareholder is steel technology developer Russula, will instead employ hydrogen made using renewable power.
It is due to produce 1.5-million metric tons of rolled steel in 2026, its first year of operation, and is projected to have an annual capacity of 2.6-million tons from 2030.
"The combination of our innovative, low-carbon briquette with the green steel produced by Hydnum will support our goal of achieving zero emissions in the steelmaking process," said Vale's director of product and business development, Rogerio Nogueira.
In December, the mining company inaugurated its first briquette plant in the Brazilian city of Vitoria, a major step in its strategy to decarbonize and expand its customer base.
Vale makes the briquettes by agglomerating high-quality iron ore at low temperatures.
The product can replace sinter, pellets and granules in blast furnaces and pellets in direct reduction furnaces, potentially reducing CO2 emissions in the steel industry by up to 10%, according to Vale.