Ternium, Vale Sign Pact to Cut CO2 Emissions

“Vale is a key supplier in our value chain. … I believe we will have many opportunities to develop joint initiatives to continue decarbonizing our operations in the future,” Ternium CEO Máximo Vedoya said in a statement.

Ternium has committed to reducing carbon emissions intensity by 20% by 2030. Vale, meanwhile, aims to reduce Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions and be carbon neutral by 2030.

Scope 1 refers to emissions generated directly by a producer’s operations. Scope 2 refers to emissions related to the energy that powers that company. And Scope 3 includes other emissions associated with a mill’s manufacturing process – including transportation and logistics.

“This is an important milestone in our roadmap to provide low carbon solutions to the steel industry, and we are glad to engage with Ternium on this journey,” Vale CEO Eduardo Bartolomeo said.

Vale said it has worked for more than a decade on a “breakthrough” technology to briquette iron ore products in a less carbon-intensive process. The company says its cutting-edge briquetting techniques can lower blast furnaces emissions by bypassing the sintering process

Also, briquettes could be direct charged into furnaces, thereby replacing iron ore lumps and pellets and further reducing emissions, the company said.

Other options include increased sourcing from Vale’s Tecnored subsidiary, which is working to develop low-carbon pig iron by using alternatives to coal and coke such as biomass – or waste leftover from farming and logging.

Ternium, meanwhile, has developed HYL, a low carbon direct-reduction technology already in use at its operations in Monterrey and Puebla, Mexico, the company said.

Steelmakers in the Americas and around the world are working to reduce CO2 emissions ahead of potential carbon border adjustment mechanisms (CBAMs) and other policies that could make pollution more costly in the future.

By Michael Cowden, Michael@SteelMarketUpdate.com