PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The European Union produces over six million tonnes of wire products every year. Most specialised companies in this sector are medium in size, but the market is dominated by a few large producers responsible for about 70% of production. Some 32% of the total production in Europe comes from Germany, followed by Italy which is credited with approximately 22%. Italy produces about 1 250 000 tonnes of wire mesh, 300 000 tonnes of wire mesh products, and has about 74 production facilities. Wire production consumes large quantities of resources, in particular, energy, water, oils, acids, zinc, and various other products. At the same time, manufacturing activities produce emissions (e.g. particulates, NOx, carbon monoxide and CO2), wastewater (with suspended solids, dissolved iron, traces of other metals, soaps), liquid waste, sludge and solid waste.
OBJECTIVES
The overall objective of the Inno.Pro.Wire project was to develop and demonstrate an innovative process with a lower environmental impact for producing extruded steel wire for use in metal net protection and containment structures for river banks, retaining walls and for the support of unstable slopes. The innovation is based on the use of a new polymer (PA6) instead of PVC, allowing the elimination of the most energy-consuming phase represented by the dip coating bath process. More specifically, the project aimed to develop a methodology for the eco-sustainable production of non-zinc-plated steel wires; to create a pilot production line to demonstrate energy and material savings; to contribute to the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology; and to promote the new technology through Green Public Procurement (GPP).
RESULTS
The Inno.Pro.Wire project demonstrated the viability of an innovative and efficient process that guarantees a high-quality extruded steel wire for use in the construction industry. Results confirmed that the new process reduces energy consumption, eliminates the waste typically generated with hot galvanising, and has a better mechanical performance, higher corrosion resistance, and significant production process cost savings. The project team implemented actions at pre-industrial and industrial scales in Italy, and completed the definition of a complete process, containing all the necessary technology with equipment suppliers and experts who were involved in the project as providers of external and design assistance.
In environmental terms, the project demonstrated that the new process, by eliminating the galvanising phase and by using a new and more efficient polymer coating (PA6) instead of the traditional PVC, achieves a range of benefits. These include:
As a result of these environmental benefits, the project is directly relevant to the Directive on energy efficiency (2006/32/EC) and the Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC).
Since the main result of the implementation of the project is the elimination of the galvanising phase, the absence of the related vapours of hydrochloric acid during the fusion of the PVC has resulted in a further advantage in that it improves the working environment for the process operators, in terms of health. The economic assessment confirmed that the new process can generate a positive economic impact and reduce raw material costs. Moreover, the analysis showed that full project industrialisation, both from a technical and economic point of view, should be obtained in 2020. The analysis enabled Officine Maccaferri to ascertain its financial needs, related to the future development of the new process, and that it is able to secure financing through private investments.
A further socio-economic benefit derives from the implementation of the pilot wire extrusion line in a Officine Maccaferri plant in Bellizzi (Salerno), located in a EU convergence area of economic and social attention, namely, the Campania region in Italy. Project reports related to the future upgrading of Best Available Techniques (BAT) and Green Public Procurements (GPP) were delivered to the Joint Research Centre (JRC) and to the national Working Group on GPP for Road Construction and Maintenance. These reports contributed to the work of these two groups and were prepared in line with requested standards and templates. In particular, project beneficiaries contributed to the updating and evaluation of the environmental benefits and GPP criteria relating to wire-mesh gabions, which are commonly used for the construction and maintenance of roads. The project team conducted a range of dissemination and networking activities during its last few months to promote the new technology. Key lessons learnt were that the reproducibility of the process can be demonstrated without needing to produce large amounts of extruded wire, but that testing in real industrial conditions is essential to guarantee the demonstration of the flexibility in industrial production.
Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report and After-LIFE Communication Plan (see "Read more" section).
