Modica (RG, Italy) - “When we decided to build a new mill, distinguished for its energy savings, we had no doubts: Ocrim is the partner with the right means and technology to come up with an innovative strategy that is able to fulfil our needs”.
These are the words of Roberto Roccasalva, owner of Molino Roccasalva Gaetano, spoken on October 9 2019, when Alberto Antolini and Stefano Mazzini, respectively Chief Executive Officer and sales director at Ocrim, went to Modica to sign the contract for the new soft wheat mill with 200 T/24h capacity. The plant was created and designed using a particularly innovative technology and with specific attention to sanitation and the wholesomeness of the end product. For this purpose, the grinding section was completed with noble machinery and stainless steel drop piping and with plansifters equipped with sieves from the anti-bacterial and anti-microbial series, the latest innovation by Ocrim relative to sanitation. Great attention was also dedicated to the flour silo, a crucial node in soft wheat processing, equipped with a mixing line for the production of numerous types of flours.
From an energy point of view, Roberto Roccasalva is essentially telling us that the mill was created and designed for the application of an intelligent energy saving system, through the use of synchronous reluctance motors. Installed in place of traditional motors to control the roller mills, the synchronous reluctance motors operate in the optimal situation of yield, guaranteeing the best in current efficiency and, thanks to the inverter, they provide a dynamic response to the kg/h workloads that the motor of each single machine is subjected to. All of this allows work to be constantly carried out at the maximum yield threshold and guarantee savings over 30%. Ocrim was careful to seize this technology that the market offers, applying it for the first time to the field of grain grinding. Inverters were also installed on the main machines for the pressurised and suction pneumatic conveyors, in order to achieve the maximum efficiency as the workloads of the entire plant vary.
Energy efficiency and sanitation, therefore are the two cornerstones for the design of this futuristic plant.
The partnership between Ocrim and Roccasalva is long-standing. Indeed, more than 10 years ago Ocrim built a 200 T/24h durum wheat mill for the Sicilian company for the production of semolina for pasta making with a line dedicated to the production of re-ground semolina, increasing the capacity to 300 T/24h in just two years. Today, with this new project, Molino Roccasalva Gaetano has become the largest grinding hub in Sicily, with a durum wheat mill offering a capacity of 200 T/24h for the production of conventional and organic re-ground semolina, another mill - also durum wheat of 300 T/24h for the production of semolina for pasta making, both conventional and organic and lastly, the new soft wheat plant with 200 T/24h capacity for the production of high quality conventional and organic flours. All of the plants have been designed and built in compliance with the strictest hygiene and sanitation standards, guaranteeing a perfect state of product safety and wholesomeness.
Upon signing the contract, Alberto Antolini declared: “We are proud to have taken on this new challenge. It is gratifying when a historical partner such as Roccasalva, chooses Ocrim for a new complex project. But when Ocrim is chosen to take on an actual challenge, then things get exciting. With this new project we are paving roads to destinations that seemed impossible until very recently. New challenges like this are important for our business and the business of all of our customers, to whom we will be able to offer increasingly more”.