Gerdau Metaldom explores markets in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago

Our company was recognized for providing a positive economic, social and environmental impact in the country and contributing to the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the business initiative "Change from fuel oil to natural gas in a reheating furnace.

This recognition, granted by the National Council of Private Enterprise (Conep) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), places us in the first edition of the Catalog of Promising Practices 2020, impacting goal 7 (affordable and clean energy) and goal 12 (responsible production and consumption).

The reheat furnace fuel change initiative involved replacing the technology used in the rolling mill to use natural gas as the primary fuel instead of fuel oil. Gerdau Metaldom is to date the main user of natural gas in the industrial sector in the Dominican Republic, excluding players in the electricity generation sector.

These actions implied a 48% reduction in CO2 emissions from 2016 to 2018, as well as a significant improvement in the fuel consumption of the reheating furnace. The company saved nearly 60 million pesos in operational and maintenance expenses during the first year of the initiative.