Name: YOLACIR CARLOS DE SOUZA SANTOS
Publication date: 13/06/2023
Advisor:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| CARLA CESAR MARTINS CUNHA | Advisor * |
Examining board:
| Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| CARLA CESAR MARTINS CUNHA | Advisor * |
| EDNILSON SILVA FELIPE | Internal Examiner * |
Summary: The mining activity constitutes an important Brazilian industrial sector and, like so many others, requires high energy consumption for its operations. However, the dissemination of information on this sector, in the field of energy, is carried out in an aggregated way to that of pelletizing, impairing the analysis of the mineral sector in a disaggregated way. In this sense, the present work aimed to analyze the energy performance of the iron mining sector in the period from 2011 to 2020. Due to the lack of disclosure of disaggregated data, primary information from the National Mining Agency obtained from the regulated sector was used through the declaration of the Annual Mining Reports. Thus, and from the process of collecting and processing individual data from each mining complex, with regard to the use of diesel and electricity, it was possible to analyze the energy consumption of the iron mining sector, as well as to estimate it in a disaggregated way, between the mining and processing sectors, concluding that in the study period there was an increase in energy consumption (51%), and the identification that most of the energy expenditure derives from the use of diesel oil. From the use of consolidated energy performance indicators in the mineral sector, it was verified, throughout the period of the study, a tendency of increase of the amount of energy necessary for the production of the iron ore (33% in the mining, 39% in the beneficiation and 41% in total), explained by the decrease in grades, the increase in the stripping ratio and the average transport distance, which makes it necessary to consume more energy in mining and processing. Furthermore, and based on information on energy consumption, estimates of the sector´s greenhouse gas emissions were made over the reported horizon, with an increase of 62% over the period, explained by the same factors already highlighted.
