Stahl Gerlafingen
| Stahl Gerlafingen AG | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | 1803/1998 |
| Seat | Gerlafingen , Switzerland |
| management | Alain Creteur (Chairman of the Management Board ) Antonio Beltrame ( Chairman of the Board of Directors ) |
| Number of employees | around 520 |
| Branch | Steel industry |
| Website | www.stahl-gerlafingen.com |
The Stahl Gerlafingen AG , headquartered in Gerlafingen in Canton Solothurn is a company for the production of rebar and section steel. The company employs around 520 people. Stahl Gerlafingen annually produces around 700,000 tons of reinforcement and profile steel for domestic and international needs. Recycled iron scrap is used as the raw material for this.
history
The Gerlafingen steelworks has its roots in Ludwig von Roll'schen Eisenwerke, which was founded in 1803 and later became the Von Roll Group. First a forge was set up at the Gerlafingen location in 1818 , before a rolling mill was put into operation in 1836 . The steel mill followed in 1918.
In 1996 Von Roll sold its steel activities, which were combined in Von Roll Stahl AG, to von Moos Holding AG, whereby the company was initially renamed Stahl- und Walzwerke Gerlafingen AG and in 1998 Stahl Gerlafingen AG. Swiss Steel AG emerged from the merger of the former Von Roll subsidiary and the von Moos Group. The majority of this was taken over in 2003 by the German Schmolz + Bickenbach AG and Gebuka AG.
In 2006 Swiss Steel sold 65 percent of Stahl Gerlafingen AG to the Italian AFV Acciaierie Beltrame SpA. In 2010, AFV Beltrame SpA took over Stahl Gerlafingen AG completely.
A raw material cycle is closed
8 tons of steel per capita are used in buildings and goods in Switzerland. Every year 340 kg of new steel are added per capita, of which around 150 kg are reinforcement and profile steel. 190 kg of steel go out of service and become steel scrap. The recycling of this steel scrap makes the iron it contains usable again for new purposes. This extraction of raw materials from buildings and goods is also known as urban mining.
It works particularly well for reinforcement and profile steels. They are processed again into products of the same quality with practically no loss of material or quality (no down-cycling). The high iron content of the reinforcing steel of around 98% remains exemplary in the cycle. After the mechanical separation steps for demolition and scrap processing, homogenization and the metallurgical separation steps take place in the steelworks. In addition to the steel products, the very stable recycling gravel electric furnace slag (EOS) and a concentrated zinc secondary ore with over 40% zinc, which closes the zinc cycle, are created from the exhaust gas cleaning.
Recycled steel is high quality, energy efficient and environmentally friendly. Recycled steel fulfills all the properties required in the building, such as strength, ductility or surfaces. With its high load-bearing capacity, steel is the best solution, especially when building compacted in depth or in height. Steel recycling requires much less energy than primary production, which is already efficient, and generates around ten times less CO 2 . The energy efficiency of the processes and the environmental systems have reached a high level and are constantly being further developed.
Stahl Gerlafingen carries out steel recycling close to the generation of scrap and steel use. This means that the average transport routes are less than 90 km. Half of them are handled by rail.
Environmental issues
Right from the start, Stahl Gerlafingen, or what was then Von Roll, had the air pollutant emissions typical for such operations. After the introduction of environmental legislation in Switzerland, Von Roll was also required to use filters. Even after that, however, the LRV limit values were periodically exceeded , especially in the vicinity of Biberist / Gerlafingen .
With the commissioning of a new furnace in the 1990s, the problem worsened again before the cantonal office for the environment (AfU) intervened and caused the company to install a new, better filter system. From August 1997 the emission values improved noticeably, the limit values for the heavy metals lead, cadmium, copper and zinc as well as for airborne dust could be met to a large extent. Dioxins and furans were an exception , where additional measures were required. The positive trend continued in 2014, although limit values were still exceeded, especially for zinc.
The pollutant emissions from the steelworks were also reflected in the soil pollution , especially in the immediate vicinity of the plant up to a radius of 1500 meters. Here the loads from permanent historical accumulation (minus the portion that seeped into the soil through leaching) were and are above the so-called test value. The AfU spoke of a potential risk to children playing on the bare ground, from house gardens and from grazing animals and their subsequent food chain . The situation will continue to be monitored and countermeasures will be taken if necessary. From the end of 2004, the groundwater was also included in the monitoring .
Another problem was the wastewater and sinter discharges from the steelworks into the Emme . In order to reduce them, a new wastewater pretreatment plant was put into operation in 1999.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Annual report of AFV Acciaierie Beltrame SpA ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ The ironworks in Gerlafingen. 1914, Die Berner Woche in words and pictures, accessed on June 27, 2020 .
- ^ [1] In-depth work on environmental engineers, ETH Zurich, 1999
- ↑ [2] Customs statistics Switzerland: Siderurgical products
- ↑ [3] USMR: Key figures iron and steel scrap
- ↑ Press release Office for the Environment (AfU) of Jan. 30, 1998: Steelworks: Air pollution has decreased significantly
- ↑ AfU: graphical representation (bar graphs) of the air pollution developments 1989-1997
- ↑ Press release Stahl Gerlafingen from April 20, 1998
- ↑ AfU: immission steel Gerlafingen
- ↑ AfU: floor load area Biberist / Gerlafingen, Final Report , 1997
- ↑ cooperation agreement AfU-Stahl Gerlafingen AG , December 1, 2003
- ↑ Media Release AfU from January 30, 1998, compare Einzelnachw. 2)
