Vale, Petrobras sign agreement focused on coprocessed renewable diesel, B24 marine biofuel

From left, Chambriard and Pimenta hold a sample of coprocessed renewable diesel. (Photo: Carlos Eduardo Livino, Agência Petrobras)

The Brazilian mining company Vale and Petrobras announced Oct. 18 the signing of a strategic-alliance agreement to supply products with a focus on competitiveness and advancing the decarbonization agenda.

This agreement, which reflects the natural evolution of the protocol of intentions signed by the companies in September 2023, establishes conditions for testing and potentially marketing three strategic products: coprocessed diesel with renewable content, natural gas, and bunker fuel with 24 percent renewable content.

The products included in the agreement were defined on the basis of joint studies between the companies.

“We are very happy to announce this broad partnership with Petrobras, which brings benefits to both companies and creates value for Brazil,” said Vale CEO Gustavo Pimenta. “The agreement reinforces Vale’s commitment to promoting the decarbonization of its operations and offering solutions to reduce its customers’ emissions, thus leveraging Brazil’s competitive edge in renewable fuels.”

Petrobras President Magda Chambriard added, “We are developing ever-greener fuels and honoring our commitment to decarbonize our activities. The partnership with Vale is yet another realization of Petrobras’ goal of improving production capacity and the company’s logistics structure to deliver to the market greener products such as ‘Diesel R’ and reinforce our decarbonization strategy.”

Locomotive in the Vitória-Minas Railway. (Photo: Judeu Marc, Vale)

Diesel R5 is an ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel with 5 percent hydrotreated vegetable oil in its composition.

It is produced by coprocessing oil derivatives with raw materials of plant origin, resulting in a product with identical technical specifications to mineral diesel and 60 percent less carbon intensity in the renewable portion.

The agreement provides for collaboration on more competitive models for the supply of natural gas, an essential input for the production of pellets and also iron-ore briquettes—a product developed by Vale that contributes to promoting the decarbonization of the steel industry.

The alliance also provides for Petrobras to sell a very-low sulfur bunker blend with 24 percent biodiesel for testing on an iron-ore transport vessel working for Vale.

The first action under the agreement has already begun with the supply of diesel with renewable content (Diesel R5) by Petrobras.

The product began to be supplied to Vale in October to carry out industrial-scale tests on the Vitória-Minas Railroad and at the Fábrica Nova mine in the Mariana complex in Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Petrobras noted that its Diesel R5 product obtained through coprocessing also requires a mixture of biodiesel ester, according to the percentage defined by current regulations.