Nelson Environmental Remediation, Oil and mill scale recovery, Contrecoeur, Quebec, Canada: Cat 325E long-reach excavator staging oil-impacted mill scale for thermal treatment.
Nelson Environmental Remediation, Oil and mill scale recovery, Contrecoeur, Quebec, Canada: Cat 325E long-reach excavator staging oil-impacted mill scale for thermal treatment.
Nelson Environmental Remediation, Oil and mill scale recovery, Contrecoeur, Quebec, Canada: Treated mill scale windrowed in the containment cell ahead of ferrous and oil recovery.
Nelson Environmental Remediation, Oil and mill scale recovery, Contrecoeur, Quebec, Canada: Treated mill scale windrowed in the containment cell ahead of ferrous and oil recovery.
Nelson Environmental Remediation, Oil and mill scale recovery, Contrecoeur, Quebec, Canada: Aerial view of Nelson's containerized indirect thermal desorption plant treating oil-impacted mill scale at the ArcelorMittal facility in Contrecoeur, Quebec.
Nelson Environmental Remediation, Oil and mill scale recovery, Contrecoeur, Quebec, Canada: Aerial view of Nelson's containerized indirect thermal desorption plant treating oil-impacted mill scale at the ArcelorMittal facility in Contrecoeur, Quebec.

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Case Study · Resource Recovery

Mill scale recycling and oil recovery.

Indirect thermal processing of oily ferrous material inside an operating Quebec steel facility, with separate oil and iron recovery.

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08

Mill Scale Recycling, Eastern Canada

A four-year program

Capability Applied

Resource Recovery→

Mobile Thermal Processing→

Case Study Reel

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01

Site background and contamination

The feed was fine-grained ferrous oxide sludge carrying 10 to 20 per cent oil and a similar moisture load. Recovery required preserving the iron-bearing fraction while separating the hydrocarbons.

Site
Operating steel production facility, Quebec
Contaminants
Oily mill scale, 10 to 20%+ oil and 10 to 20%+ moisture

02

Nelson’s role and treatment selection

Nelson provided project management, material handling and Indirect Thermal Desorption (ITD) operations. Indirect treatment allowed the oil to be driven off and captured while retaining the useful mineral material.

Nelson role
On-site thermal processing inside a live production facility

03

Equipment, handling and logistics

A long-reach excavator supported stockpile handling inside the working steel mill. Processing averaged 5 tonnes per hour with peaks to 15 tonnes per hour, without interrupting the client's steel production.

Equipment
Indirect Thermal Desorption (ITD) train with oil recovery

04

Sampling, permits and verification

Client QA/QC required residual oil below 1 per cent and water below 5 per cent. Three Quebec environment ministry permits governed the program.

05

Documented outcomes

Final residual oil was below 0.1 per cent. Oil was marketed to fuel recyclers, and the ferrous fraction represented more than 80 per cent of the total processed weight.

Material quantity
Approx. 80,000 tonnes, 5 t/hr average
Result
Under 1% residual oil, 3,828,163 L recovered, 100% of ferrous back to production

Last updated · September 2026

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