The modernization of the Tubarão complex aims to achieve the goals of the company’s Environmental Master Plan, aiming to reduce the emission of particulate materials in the pelletizing area.
Pelletizing is the process of transforming fine iron ore into spherical pellets by agglomeration and hardening. These pellets are then used as feed for a blast furnace or direct reduction systems to produce iron.
Plants 1 and 2 in this area will be reactivated and modified to produce “green briquette”, a less polluting ore that could reduce CO2 emissions from steel customers by up to 10%.
The “green briquette” is formed by iron ore and a technological solution of binders, which includes in its composition sand from the treatment of mining waste. It is able to withstand the high temperature of the blast furnace without disintegrating. The GHG reduction occurs because the product allows the steelmaker to reduce dependence on sintering, a process prior to steel production in which the fine iron ore is agglomerated.
The initial production capacity is approximately 7 million tons per year. The estimate is that, in the long term, the company will have the capacity to produce more than 50 million tons per year of “green briquette”, which would lead to a potential reduction in emissions of more than 6 million tons of carbon equivalent per year (MtCo2e/year) with the use of the technology.
ENESA won the bidding process and was chosen for the challenge of delivering the services related to electromechanical assembly and disassembly, maintenance of existing equipment and also in its scope offers support to the pre-commissioning, commissioning and performance testing phases of all the equipment, which make up the industrial and support units of the Tubarão Practical Project site – Plant 1 and 2.
The Plants are located in Vitória, Espirito Santo. The work will last 21 months and will have approximately 500 employees at the peak of construction.
