The X-Pact® Pickling Model will provide Outokumpu Stainless USA with a range of major benefits, including optimal strip surface quality and reduced resource consumption, while maintaining existing interfaces with the customer’s level 2 automation. The pickling model is scheduled to go into service in the summer of 2025.
The ever-increasing demands on the pickling process necessitate the use of a pickling model computer for removing the oxide layer on the strip surface, eliminating the metal matrix layer with a lower chromium content beneath the oxide layer, and achieving high surface quality after pickling both layers.
The economic benefits of SMS group’s system include continuous access to process parameters, thereby ensuring they remain close to optimum to guarantee consistently high product quality. Concentrations near limits prevent excessive consumption and material loss, automatic discharging ensures safe operation, temperature control increases efficiency, and current density control limits electric power usage to the required level. Additionally, handling of the pickling process has been simplified, and the change of process materials is easy and flexible.
As the ideal partner for integrated lifecycle services, SMS group, with its standalone solution, will play a crucial role in advancing Outokumpu’s annealing and pickling process towards more sustainable, profitable, and flexible plant operations.
About Outokumpu:
Outokumpu is accelerating the green transition as a global leader in sustainable stainless steel. The company’s business model is based on the circular economy, with products made from 95 percent recycled materials, which are then turned into fully recyclable stainless steel. This steel is utilized in a variety of applications across society, including infrastructure, mobility, and household appliances. In the United States, Outokumpu operates America’s most advanced stainless-steel mill in Calvert, Alabama. With its extensive range of products and industry-leading technical support and services, Outokumpu is the second largest producer of sustainable stainless steel in the country.