Usiminas Ipatinga steel plant — Brazil

Usiminas Ipatinga steel plant is a steel plant in Brazil. Its listed capacity is 5,000,000 t of steel. Steel plants burn coal in blast furnaces or use electric arcs to melt scrap; in both cases the molten metal must be kept above 1,500°C and transferred through extensive hot piping and vessels. It is operated by Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais SA. By capacity it ranks #4 among 11 steel plants in Brazil. It emits about 7,498,648 t CO₂e a year from Climate TRACE. That is 5.3% of the CO₂e from the 130 facilities in Brazil that have an emissions figure in IndustryAtlas. Its CO₂ per unit of capacity is 62% above the national median for this sector.

Facility data: Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0), id ct-1566455.

In context: how this facility compares

At 5,000,000 t of steel, Usiminas Ipatinga steel plant is well above the median steel plant in Brazil (950,000 t of steel). Subsector: iron-and-steel. As steel plant, it requires high process heat (typically 800–1500°C) for its core industrial operations, supplied by boilers, furnaces or direct combustion. Steel plants burn coal in blast furnaces or use electric arcs to melt scrap; in both cases the molten metal must be kept above 1,500°C and transferred through extensive hot piping and vessels.

Capacity & CO₂-intensity comparison computed from Climate TRACE industrial facilities data; sector role based on engineering reference.

What 7,498,648 t CO₂e a year looks like

This facility's estimated annual CO₂e (Climate TRACE, modelled) in everyday equivalents from the US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies calculator:

Equivalencies: US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies. Emissions: Climate TRACE.

Capacity vs largest steel plants in Brazil

Listed capacity (t of steel), Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0).

Operator

Operated by Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais SA.

Local climate

Usiminas Ipatinga steel plant sits in a tropical savanna climate zone (Köppen Aw), at 19.5°S in the southern hemisphere.

Köppen zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid).

Site climate & environmental severity

This site sits in a moderately corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C3 — Medium), with humidity / wetness the leading environmental stress.

In this site’s local climate, a bare 150 °C surface sheds about 1271 W/m² to ambient — roughly 0.98× the loss at a 20 °C reference. Reference-surface calculation at a 150 °C surface from WorldClim climate normals (ASTM C680 / ISO 12241) — an indicative per-climate comparison, not a measurement of this site’s specific equipment. Open method dataset: DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20787408 (CC BY 4.0).

Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.

How it compares & nearby sites

The #4 largest of 11 steel plants in Brazil by listed capacity (Climate TRACE).

Nearby industrial sites

• Aperam Timóteo steel plant · Steel Plant · 301,473 t CO₂
• Fabrica da Cenibra · Pulp & Paper Mill · 311,416 t CO₂
• Cenibra - Pulp Mill Belo Oriente · Pulp & Paper Mill · 294,252 t CO₂
• ArcelorMittal Monlevade steel plant · Steel Plant · 1,835,723 t CO₂
• Lagoa Santa Cement Plant · Cement Plant · 1,679,156 t CO₂
• Mizu Matozinhos Cement Plant · Cement Plant · 249,741 t CO₂

Location

Coordinates -19.48677, -42.54426. View on OpenStreetMap.

Frequently asked questions