On April 8th, the Vale Central South University Low Carbon and Hydrogen Metallurgy Joint Laboratory (hereinafter referred to as the Joint Laboratory) was officially launched in Changsha, Hunan. This joint laboratory was established with a donation of $5.81 million from Vale and will be open to all researchers in the mining and steel industries starting today.
It is reported that the joint laboratory is located in Changsha Yida Zhongjian Smart Technology Center, with a total of five floors and a total area of 3000 square meters. This laboratory serves as a low-carbon metallurgical full process experimental platform, with six functional areas including iron ore sorting and pretreatment, low-carbon agglomeration, functional material preparation, comprehensive utilization of secondary resources, carbon reduction, and biomass and hydrogen metallurgy, as well as three pilot bases for low-carbon sintering, low-carbon pellets, and hydrogen based direct reduction. The joint laboratory is equipped with over 100 sets of world-class instruments and equipment, such as sintering pellet devices, multifunctional high-temperature furnaces, and hydrogen reduction vertical furnaces, providing strong support for the basic theoretical research and key technology development of cutting-edge metallurgical technologies such as hydrogen metallurgy.
Li Jiancheng, academician of the CAE Member and president of Central South University, said that Central South University will give full play to its disciplinary and talent advantages, fully support the construction of the joint laboratory, enable the joint laboratory to produce more results, have greater impact and play a greater role, and will certainly build the joint laboratory into a world-class innovation platform with distinctive characteristics, advanced equipment and scientific management, providing strong scientific and technological support for the green transformation and development of the steel industry.
Kang Ruiru, Director of Iron Ore Product Development and Charging Solutions at Vale and President of the Black Metals Research Institute, stated that the launch of the joint laboratory is an important milestone on Vale's path to sustainable mining. China is accelerating the development of new productive forces, and the launch of the joint laboratory is timely. "We believe that relying on the strong faculty and scientific research capabilities of Central South University, the joint laboratory will effectively promote research in the fields of low-carbon and hydrogen metallurgy, thereby helping China's steel industry to develop new quality productivity faster and achieve green transformation earlier."