Samarco Receives Green Patent for Low-Carbon Iron Ore Pelletization

Samarco has secured a Green Patent from Brazil's INPI for a process that replaces a portion of fossil fuels in iron ore pelletization with eucalyptus charcoal fines. This method achieves a reduction of 4.41 kg of CO2 per tonne of pellets produced without compromising the physical quality of the final product. The technology utilizes moinha, a co-product of the charcoal industry, to reach a 15% fuel substitution rate. This approach avoids the land-use conflicts associated with purpose-grown energy crops and provides a verifiable path for reducing Scope 1 emissions in heavy industrial thermal processes.