Impressive performance in continuous pickling line 2

30 million tons of pickled hot strip produced in 15 years

Continuous pickling line 2 was commissioned in March 2008 and is therefore one of the newer lines in the mill. Here, the surface scale produced during hot rolling is removed from the strip surface by pickling with hydrochloric acid. In a continuous process, the coils are uncoiled, straightened, conveyed through four warm hydrochloric acid baths, cleaned and recoiled. The turbulence pickling process used here enables high-quality descaling without attacking the material. The pickled hot strip goes straight to the customer - or is transported to downstream equipment for further processing, e.g. to the tandem mill.

A good reason for a group photo
Now the impressive figure of 30 million tons of hot strip could be produced. The team from shifts D and E of production, the day shift team maintenance, the process team of the continuous pickling line 2, logistics and quality, the plant management and the operations office of the cold rolling mill presented the coil on behalf of all those currently and in recent years involved.

The plant manager added: "We have achieved a lot: After a long ramp-up phase and several optimizations, which have left out almost no aggregate and have also noticeably improved the cranes and regeneration, the plant is producing at a high output level. We are achieving more per shift than originally planned. Significant qualitative improvements have also been achieved. This is only possible with a dedicated and consistent team from all areas involved."

According to the operations director of the cold flat area, the continuous pickling line 2 is the core unit for supplying high-quality starting material to the cold rolling mill and surface finishing shop. "We also supply a significant proportion of pickled hot strip directly to our customers. Against the background of the strategic expansion of capacity via hot-dip galvanizing 3, security of supply and thus the availability of continuous pickling line 2 is a decisive factor for our economic success."