Alfa Acciai Steel Mill
Steel production starts in the scrap yard, where part of the scrap is conveyed to the shredder, continues in the production bay and ends at the platform from where the billets are then moved on to the rolling process.
Two EAFs handle the steel mill’s core process and feed two production lines. The steel is refined in a bath and the metallurgical parameters are fine-tuned in the relevant ladle furnaces.
The billet casting process is handled by two 5-strand continuous casting machines. The operating parameters are handled by a complex automated system that provides real-time optimisation and makes it possible to adjust them whenever necessary.
The steel mill turns out billets with a square cross section, in the range of 130-160 mm, and 6 to 12 m in length.
The plant is engineered so that the production process is closely linked to a series of satellite facilities that are relevant to monitor environmental impact, such as the off-gas and water treatment systems.
This production unit incorporates the slag processing plant to obtain Alfa Sinstone® granulate, which has recently been integrated with the Gripstone® production plant.
Hot rolling at Alfa Acciai
The hot rolling department is equipped with three independent systems which turnout high-quality products with excellent mechanical properties that are guaranteed homogeneous and uniform.
The overall production capacity is up to 2 million tonnes a year. The intermediate products (steel billets) leaving the continuous casting are used in equal size on three heating furnaces. These gas-fired units are controlled by fine-tuned software to help reducing fuel consumption and are in full compliance with the latest regulations on emissions.
"Rebar mill 1"
An extremely compact plant comprising eighteen reduction passes, featuring an in-line heat treatment system, which – thanks to monitoring and control of the flow rate and pressure of a large amount of continuously treated and recycled water – produces weldable steels with mechanical properties complying with various standards.
Downstream of the heating process, the end product in bars rests on a large still-air cooling bed where it is rotated automatically. This process ensures good product straightness and high mechanical consistency.
The bars are cut to size using a motor-operated system and then sent to the automatic weighing, packaging and labelling station.
The hot-rolled reinforcing steel in bars, featuring improved adherence and high ductility, comes in diameters 12-32 mm and is packaged in bundles weighing approximately 2,200 kg each in varying lengths from 6 to 18 metres.
"Wire rod mill"
This is a very large installation as it comprises two parallel lines that run simultaneously. It is about 300 metres long, with twenty-eight continuous reduction passes, numerous complex articulated devices and a series of continual heat treatment systems, all sized to produce long smooth and ribbed rolled products, at a very high finishing speed rate.
On both lines, cooling is by means of a complex ‘Stelmore’ system that ensures specific cooling cycles according to the grades of processed steels in order to:
- Optimize the mechanical features and make them repeatable;
- Meet metallurgical requirements with adequate microstructures;
- Control the quality and thickness of the surface oxide to facilitate chemical and mechanical pickling operations.
At the end of the lines, the rolled looped product is dropped into coils on rotating trestles and sent on to the automated pressing, fastening and labelling stations. The product is packaged in coils that are fastened at four points. They can be uncoiled either vertically or horizontally, but always in an axial direction.
The wire rod mill produces:
- Wire rod, diameter range 5.5-16 mm, in coils weighing 1,450 kg;
- Hot-rolled reinforcing steel in coils, diameter range 6-16 mm, weighing 1,450 kg.
"Rebar mill 2"
A plant comprising fourteen reduction passes and two parallel blocks with a further four passes. This rolling mill has been designed to produce small diameters. Like the other systems, it uses the principle of “horizontal-vertical” continuous rolling and has an innovative semi-automatic system for charging the heating furnace. There is also a so-called ‘slitting’ system of rolling, whereby the rolled steel is split at a set point of the rolling process to allow high-rate output of low-diameter rolled products, using different finishing and packaging devices.
Downstream of the finishing mills, the two production lines use complex heat treatment systems that allow to process products (reinforcing steel in bars and coils) with different characteristics.
The rebar mill 2 produces:
- Reinforcing steel in bars featuring improved adherence and high ductility, diameter range 8-16 mm, length 6-14 m;
- Reinforcing steel in hot-rolled spooled coils featuring improved adherence and high ductility, diameter range 8-16 mm, weighing up to 3,000 kg.
Downstream processing at Alfa Derivati
At the Alfa Derivati’s production facilities in San Polo and Montirone, to the south of Brescia, where Alfa Acciai hot-rolled ribbed coils are processed to obtain:
- Recoiled wire, diameter range 6-16 mm, in spools weighing up to 5,000 kg;
- Welded wire mesh, for reinforced concrete.
Out of the two production sites, the one in Montirone (Brescia) focuses on exports and boasts a railway link to make logistics increasingly sustainable.
The recoiling/stretching process uses latest-generation high-productivity equipment that ensures increased mechanical properties of the processed wire, while maintaining the high-ductility properties for products in class HD – High Ductility. Recoiling by winding up the turns very precisely and accurately facilitates subsequent coil unwinding and processing. The product is packaged on automatic strapping machines.
The production of welded mesh involves recoiling on independent processing lines equipped with unwinding stations, untangling benches, gear blocks, straightening benches and spoolers, followed by assembling on fully automated lines, each consisting of a series of lengthwise and crosswise wire uncoiling and gearing devices, a multiple welding bench and downstream equipment for the packaging, strapping and storage of the packs of finished panels.
Acciaierie di Sicilia
Acciaierie di Sicilia is equipped with an electric-arc furnace and a rolling mill producing billets and reinforcing steel in bars and coils by melting ferrous scrap.
The electric-arc furnace (EAF) feeds a continuous casting machine that produces 6 and 12 metre-long billets with a square cross section of 130x130 mm for in-house rolling and for sale.
The rolling mill downstream of the continuous casting machine is fed by a hot charge system that significantly reduces CO2 emissions and allows continuous rolling across roughing, intermediate and finishing stands. The process is completed by Tempcore heat treatment, which gives the end product the mechanical characteristics required to comply with current Italian and international standards.
The plant downstream of the finishing unit has a complex system for cutting, packaging and fastening steel rebars in bundles of 6 to 15 m in length and 8 to 32 mm in diameter that guarantees high quality standards.
In parallel with the packaging devices for rebars, Acciaierie di Sicilia is equipped with two hot spoolers for diameters of 8 to 16 mm.
The Sicilystone by-product derived from the processing and recovery of black slag as an inert material, with characteristics similar to Alfa Acciai’s granulate, obtained certification in 2024.
Products
We offer a wide range of products worldwide in the fields of construction, bright wire, automotive, household appliances, mechanical engineering and the many varied applications of wire rod.
Steel services
The support which the Alfa Acciai Group provides for customers goes beyond supplying products, featuring an organised system of integrated services designed to establish quality-oriented relationships.
Steel quality
The Alfa Acciai Group sets a benchmark in the EAF steelmaking process in terms of production process efficiency and quality.
Certification
Our work results in an ongoing commitment to maintaining excellent systems and products in the Alfa Acciai Group over time. Certification is our universal gateway.
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