Green hydrogen and E-fuels in Brazilian mining sector

Brazilian mining represents a strong sector at the national and international level with strategic participation in iron ore extraction, which fills the large world demand. However, sustainability issues have put challenges over the ore industry. On other hands, the biofuels demand a consumption in Brazil mainly guided by biodiesel and bioethanol gives a prominent position for a clean energy matrix. However, the renewable electricity produced in the region has aroused the interest to explore new alternatives from green hydrogen and its potential derivatives as a support to the bioenergy market. The objective of the present work is to highlight the prominent contribution of hydrogen, and how its products could be used to leverage carbon emissions reductions in the mining sector, giving prominence to the current development of substitute fuels, bringing a data survey of “e-fuel” as low-carbon substitutes for their fossil counterparts (diesel and natural gas) as energy sources. Comparing the break-even cost and carbon pricing of the traditional fossil and biofuels (bioethanol, biodiesel, hydrotreated vegetable oil) sources, we found a range of 1.22–92 USD/GJ and 0–2.184 USD/tCO2eq for the natural gas and diesel, respectively. Approaching the current scenarios as well as 2030 and 2050, it was observed that the e-fuels will be competitive by the half-century, where the pure hydrogen emerges as the viable fuel. Furthermore, it discusses the opportunities and barriers to be addressed for the next decade in net-zero emissions expected by 2050 for the mining sector, since important regulations are already approved for green hydrogen in Brazil.