Pickling Lines — Clean and scale-free surfaces for optimized downstream processes
The increasing demand for advanced steel grades and added value products drives steel producers to seek a more efficient pickling process.
Pickling Lines have to be optimized and ready to process many different steel grades, and provide precise control of strip tension, accurate strip guiding, high quality pickling control, fast and stable processes with faultless strip tracking.
Pickling lines
To achieve the highest strip cleanliness and high surface quality with a reliable and cost-efficient process Primetals Technologies offers modular continuous and Push-Pull Pickling Lines. They are supplied with compact Scale Breakers and customers have the choice of different pickling concepts (i Box, turbulent shallow or flat tanks).
Continuous Pickling Lines
Our Continuous Pickling Lines feature a modular design, high pickling efficiency, economical operation and are integrated with the latest advanced technologies.
The line can be also combined with a Galvanizing Line (CPGL – Continuous Pickling and Galvanizing Line).
Push-Pull Pickling Lines
For the pickling of up to 1,000,000 tons of strip per year depending on the product mix, Push-Pull Pickling Lines offer significant advantages in terms of investment costs and operational flexibility (frequent change of strip dimensions and steel grades) with uniquely designed V-shape flat pickling tanks.
Main Benefits
- Broad range of pickling technology available to cope with customer expectation
- Modular design to optimize operation and maintenance practices and cost
- High efficient pickling rates to achieve a surface clean and free of scale
- Special anti-stain system that does not require chemical additives
- Energy efficient design of the fume extraction and sealing system
Mechatronic machines for Pickling Lines
In-house mechatronic machines designed, assembled and tested in our Primetals Technologies workshops:
- High tension Scale Breaker (up to 100 tons)
- i Box tanks (newest and most advanced box pickling tank technology)
- Turbulent flat tanks for high process speeds (up to 400 m/min) and production output
- Shallow tanks for lower process speeds
- Skin-Pass Mill, Tension Leveler (more than 400 references worldwide)
- PropertyMon Inline Mechanical properties gauge
- Turret-type Side Trimmer with flying width adjustment, EdgeMon® (edge monitoring) and Scrap Chopper
- Pickle Liquor Analysis and Control System
Want to know more? Go to Lifecycle Services & Integrated Plants & Solutions
Complete automation and process control for Pickling Lines
Plant productivity and product quality are substantially depending on the quality of plant automation, process control, and available process optimization functions. Primetals Technologies has successfully provided EA solutions for several continuous and non-continuous pickling lines worldwide within the last 15 years with ultimate process conditions and strip quality along the line.
The most important feature for pickling line performance is an advanced pickling model.
Calculation of scale thickness and state of iron oxide
- Head-end, body, tail-end
Optimum strip speed including speed range based on chemical-physical model
- Calculated from coil primary data
- Considering actual bath temperatures
- Considering actual concentration values in each pickling circuit
- Calculated for different segments (head-end, body, tail-end)
- Results transferred to Speed Optimization System of PLTCM
Forecast calculation, up to 100 coils in advance
- Temperature gradient in pickling bath
Cyclic calculation of pickling rate according to actual context (strip, temperatures…)
TECHNOLOGY AND MODERNIZATION PACKAGES
Get striking results with incremental investments
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| PL-TCM Coupling | Couple CPL and TCM processes in one line |
| Pickling Optimizer | Automated model-based setup calculation for efficient strip pickling |
| PropertyMon | Inline measurement of steel strip properties |
| EdgeMon | Inspection of side-trimmed strip edge surface for steel pickling and processing lines and aluminum rolling |
| i Box Pickling Tank | Advanced solution for efficient descailing |
| High-capacity tension scale breaker | Tension leveler-type scale breaker for high descaling performance |
| Flying Width Changing (FWC) side trimmer | Innovative solution for efficient and accurate side trimming |
Reference Story: Continuous Pickling Line Renewal - iBox
Customer
Kobe Steel, Ltd., Japan
Type of Line
Continuous Pickling Line (CPL)
Technical Data
Annual capacity: 2,000,000 tons
Strip thickness: 1.8 -6 mm
Strip width: 600 -1650 mm
Processing speed: 240 m/min
Our solutions
An i Box superior in chemical resistance and in retaining heat replaced the existing shallow tank.
The iBox has immersion boxes inside through which strips travel guided by rolls and skids. This pickling process uses the strong shear flow generated by the narrow and rectangular channel the immersion boxes form to accelerate the acid-liquid reaction without an electric pump required to circulate the acid solution in conventional jet pickling tanks.
