AFV Beltrame Group, the main shareholder of Donalam, one of the largest European producers of steel bars and special steels, is investing over 11 million euro in the modernization of the rolling mill within the steel plant in Calarasi.

The new technology will replace the one dating from the ’70s and’ 80s and will contribute both to the reduction by up to 40% of the carbon emissions associated with the production and to the increase of the competitiveness of the steel bars made in Romania.

The investment will be made from own funds and is expected to be completed by 2022.

The technology available in the rolling mill will reduce gas consumption by up to 40% (about 2.4 million cubic meters/year); thermal energy savings of over 27,300 Mwh/year; electricity savings of over 1,300 Mwh/year; reducing the amount of steel lost in the production process by about 1,440t/year. Improvements in energy performance and raw material consumption will support a reduction in the plant’s CO2 emissions by almost 5,000 t/year.

“We had planned this investment within the group before the European Parliament approved The Green Deal, a project that obliges Member States to major investments so that, by 2050, the EU becomes climate neutral. We are very happy that our vision and the investments we have planned now have legislative and institutional support, both at European and national level. In addition to the investment of 11.3 million euro, already being implemented, we are analyzing a much larger investment of over 100 million euro that would change the paradigm of the steel industry, considered for a long time extremely polluting. We have the ambition to have in Romania in a few years the ‘greenest’ steel plant in Europe” said Carlo Beltrame, CEO Donalam Călărași.

The new equipment will consist of a heating furnace, electrical installations and a water treatment system with a production capacity of 120 t/h.