Vallourec has concluded an arrangement for the trading of technology used on the production of sustainable charcoal
The project of production of sustainable charcoal developed and patented by Vallourec – already operating on Florestal unity (Paraopeba/MG) – which can be acquired by steel mills all over the world. Named as carboval, this technology that had its operational and environmental efficacy proven from the experience of the pilot project of Paraopeba, which was shared to other sector industries by partnership established with Paul Wurth from Brazil, company specialized in equipment sales, plus services and technologies to the steel market. The first negotiations with companies from America had already started. Big players of the market of ore/pelletizing from Brasil and Europa also showed interest and started tests of raw materials.
The technology, already available on the market, allows increasing the efficiency of the production of sustainable charcoal, making the best use of wood and by-products of carbonization. Besides, it reduces the volume of CO2 emission, by using the charcoal instead of using fossil fuels in many steel processes (petcoke on electric furnace, GN on pelletizing, mixture on ore and others).
The Carboval reactor also allows the recovery of wood tar and pyroligneous extract, byproducts generated in the production process of charcoal. The material has high benefit to the chemical industry (adhesives, cosmetics, paints, among others) and food industry, plus it can be also used as a replacement of fossil fuels.
“It’s about a mature technology, implemented after more than after eight years of tests. It is a technology more effective to brickwork furnaces, since it reached to the technology, environmental and economic limit, threatening its sustainability. Our strategy is to use the forest in the best way possible, controlling and automation of process, preventing loss of products and byproducts and the occurrence of quality escapes, thus assuring safety”, explains the engineer and assistant of Development and carbonization of Vallourec Florestal, Fernando Latorre.
“This production process, developed and patented by Vallourec, is a milestone in the industry of charcoal production. The traceability and production control not only respect the current environmental law, but also release a new and ongoing sustainable model of charcoal production, meeting the environmental expectations for the world” highlights José Geraldo de Araújo, director of Technology of Paul Wurth from Brazil.
More efficiency and less impact
Developed by Vallourec, the technology of continuous carbonization, called Carboval, allows the transformation of wood into charcoal in only 16 hours, without releasing methane or carbon monoxide and with the use of up to 95% of the energy from the raw material. In eight years of tests, the pilot plant reactor has produced 39 kilotons of raw charcoal, tested on the blast furnaces of Vallourec and third parties.
Economy of low carbon
The Vallourec Group has announced, on 2020, a mapping plan for carbon emission, approved by Science Based Targets (SBTi) – organization that gathers more than a thousand companies all over the world and help them to delineate goals to reduce the environmental impact, aligned to Paris Agreement – which has the goal to reduce the indirect and direct carbon emission on 20% and 25%, respectively.
The group is already operating, as a low issuer of greenhouse gases and on 2020, became part of the List of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) – the name given to the ranking that evaluates the commitment of organizations around the world to the environment. With this, Vallourec is now among the 179 global companies that have environmental practices and policies internationally recognized, among more than 8 thousand companies evaluated.
