Gerdau Reused Over 2 Trillion Liters of Water in 2012
04/09/2013 - Gerdau reused 2 trillion liters of water across all of its operations in 2012 with a mean water recirculation rate of 97%.
Gerdau reused 2 trillion liters of water across all of its operations in 2012. This volume corresponds to about the same annual amount supplied to the state of São Paulo, currently with 41 million inhabitants, considering a mean daily consumption of 150 liters per person. Gerdau says it currently has one of the best water recirculation records in steel production worldwide: its mean rate is over 97%, and the small amount not reused corresponds primarily to losses due to evaporation. These achievements in the process of reusing water are due to continuous investments in advanced closed water treatment and recirculation systems.
In 2012, for example, a new water treatment plant was constructed at the Reinosa mill located in Spain. As a result, the amount of water captured externally by the plant decreased by 50%. In its mill in Peru, a project is currently underway to improve and upgrade the water treatment system to increase plant recirculation from 95.1% to more than 98%.
Gerdau is a leading producer of long steel in the Americas and one of the largest suppliers of special long steel in the world. It has more than 45,000 employees and industrial operations in 14 countries with operations in the Americas, Europe and Asia, which together represent an installed capacity of more than 25 million tonnes of steel per year. Gerdau is the largest recycler in Latin America and around the world and transforms millions of metric tons of scrap into steel every year. Gerdau is listed on the stock exchanges of São Paulo, New York and Madrid, and has approximately 140,000 shareholders.
