SMS Demag Process Technologies has been awarded an order to supply the world’s largest hydrochloric-acid regeneration plant for the new integrated rolling mill at ThyssenKrupp Steel USA in Calvert, Ala. Commissioning of the plant will take place in April 2010. The facility will recondition 150,000m3of contaminated hydrochloric acid produced during the chemical descaling of 4 million tons of hot-rolled plates each year. In addition to having low emission values, this plant offers considerable savings in energy consumption and operating and maintenance costs.
The iron oxide obtained as a by-product during the acid recovery can be isolated in many different forms by the SMS Demag-developed process. ThyssenKrupp and SMS Demag will cooperate on the further development and marketing of the process.