Vallourec boost its pellet production to over 1.2 million tons per year
As the only steelmaker in Brazil with a pelletizing plant, Vallourec integrates this unique capability into its production chain. As a result, the company is ready to meet market demands with an annual production of over 1.2 million tons of pellets.
World reference in the production of premium seamless steel tubes and intelligent tubular solutions, Vallourec’s Pelletizing plant expects to produce over 1.2 million tons of pellets per year. The volume is enough to fuel its own blast furnace and supply the steel market. The company is the only steelmaker in Brazil to have a pelletizing process as part of its industrial complex, located in the Jeceaba unit, South-Central region of the state of Minas Gerais.
With operations in Brazil for over 70 years, Vallourec South America is internationally renowned for its integrated and self-sustaining processes. The Mining unit supplies the iron ore and the Forestry unit, a pioneer in planting and managing renewable eucalyptus forests, the biomass charcoal for the production of high-quality steel. The Pelletizing plant is also part of this complete production chain. It is where the pellet feed extracted from the Mining unit goes to be transformed into pellets.
With the production capacity of our Pelletizing plant - which is a strategic asset for the company - we are prepared to meet the steel market’s demands for pellets. This is the outcome of a robust plan involving a series of investments and improvements
As a result, the Vallourec Pelletizing plant is ISO 50001, ISO 45001, ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 certified. It is also the only one in the world to use biomass charcoal as the main fuel in the pellet-burning process, with lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Another standout quality is the speed with which the pellets can be dispatched, thanks to a railroad network that strategically passes through the Jeceaba unit and connects it to Brazil’s most important ports.
