Sustainable steel: More than 30% of fossil natural gas consumption will be replaced by a more sustainable source.
For the first time in Brazil, biomethane gas is being used in the operation of a steel mill. With renewable fuel from the Seropédica Landfill in Rio's West Zone, Ternium will replace more than 30 percent of fossil natural gas consumption with a more sustainable source.
With renewable fuel from the Seropédica Landfill in Rio's West Zone, Ternium will replace more than 30 percent of fossil natural gas consumption with a more sustainable source. The biomethane replacement is a remarkable initiative of the company to improve its efficiency regarding the emission of greenhouse gases.
The biomethane injected into the low-pressure gas pipeline of the industrial complex is utilized for thermal use in the blast furnace, steelworks, coke, and sintering sectors that are part of the steelmaking process. There will be up to 72 thousand Nm3 of biomethane consumed per day.
"With this operation, we started to use renewable energy gas to produce steel. It is an innovative project that uses the gas generated by the landfill waste, and this benefits companies, society, and the environment," said Pedro Teixeira, Vice President of Institutional Relations.
The Seropédica landfill, the largest in Latin America, serves about 10 million people and receives 10,000 tons daily of garbage from Rio de Janeiro, Seropédica, and Itaguaí. The biogas, resulting from the degradation of organic matter from municipal solid waste, is purified on-site plant through completely removing CO2, removing sulfur and other contaminants, and reducing nitrogen. Biomethane is the gaseous biofuel obtained from this process and can be used as a vehicle fuel or for heat generation, as is the case of Ternium.