he rolling mill reheating furnace at the Gerdau Ameristeel Cambridge steel mill in Canada is powered by a different kind of energy: methane gas, which is produced from decomposing organic waste in a landfill. Used in place of natural gas, it provides 45% of the energy required to operate the furnace.

The mill is located in the province of Ontario and has specialized technology to extract, pressurize, clean and transport the gas through a pipeline to the equipment. This transfer line is only 800 meters long, as the landfill is located close to Gerdau Ameristeel Cambridge.

The use of the gas represents savings of Cdn$ 6,000 per day, and the amount invested was recovered in just one year after the system started operating in 1999. Currently, over 3,000 cubic meters of methane gas are supplied per hour.