Steel Industry - Pickling

In steel production there is a need to remove oxide scales from the surface. This is done in the pickling process by immersion in different acids. For stainless steel, mixed acid, which is a mixture of nitric and hydrofluoric acid, at an elevated temperature is often used for best result. This environment put extreme demands on both performance and service reliability of the process equipment, for which non-metallics, including polypropylene, FRP, fluoroplastics, PVC and CPVC, have been the preferred material choice since decades. Corrosion damage may, however, occur also in equipment of made of plastics and systematic corrosion resistance data have been very limited. During the years 2007 to 2010 a large project called "Cost effective and reliable use of plastic materials and other non-metallics in process equipment in pickling plants - Corrosion resistance and long-term performance" was performed by us together with participants from both the steel industry, suppliers of process equipment and materials suppliers and financial support by the Swedish Steel Producers Association (Jernkontoret). Due to the large success of this project but still many questions to answer, a committe was formed for continuation of the research work in this field.

Plastics for pickling committee (PPC)

The overall aim of the committee is to build up knowledge to achieve a reliable and safe use of plastic materials in process equipment in steel works where acids such as nitric-, hydrofluoric-, hydrochloric- and sulphuricacid is used. This is achieved by a close cooperation between supplier/manufacturers of plastic process-equipment/material and end users such as steel works and construction companies.

The PPC-committee serves as a forum to achieve these aims and to effectively spread the results obtained to the committee members.

http://www.picklingcommittee.com/