EPS is the Green Steel Choice
EPS pickling is safe and environment-friendly. Instead of caustic acids, EPS uses carbon tempered steel grit, available world-wide, mixed with ordinary water. It continuously recycles and re-uses these ingredients. EPS production is all-electric, which promotes decarbonization efforts.
With EPS there’s no issues of personnel safety, spent pickle liquor disposal or site certification. There’s no hazardous material or effluent reporting needed. Acid pickling burns large quantities of fossil fuels to heat the acid – a cost that’s not needed with EPS. And the acid pickling facility structure itself is degraded by acidic fumes. No such problem with EPS.
Other problems of Acid Pickling that EPS eliminates:
- Risk of hydrogen explosion or fire
- Risk of acid burns and inhalation of fumes
- Extensive safety training of personnel needed
- Neutralization and disposal of acid sludge
- High transportation costs with spill management precautions
In 2011, American Metal Market awarded TMW the prestigious Award for Steel Excellence, recognizing the achievement of EPS in the category Environmental Responsibiliy/Stewardship. (click image to enlarge)
“A door is open to reduce impact on the environment by not using acid, because the EPS pickling process is clean and its by-products are easily recyclable. An EPS pickling line for our production is 70 meters shorter than an acid pickling line, and services for an EPS pickling line are less complex and dangerous.”
Franco Rachello
Project Manager
Acerias de Colombia
EPS Pickling: Where's The Waste ?
Acid picklers spend huge sums on acid regeneration systems and the ultimate disposal of acid-contaminated sludge and spent pickling solution. What do EPS picklers spend on waste handling and disposal? PRACTICALLY NOTHING !
WATER: EPS pickling uses water for the slurry mixture and strip rinsing, but that water is continuously filtered and recirculated and it is completely safe. Makeup water is needed only to replace that lost to evaporation. No liquid waste.
METAL: Removed scale and grit particles which become too small are collected on the filter media, then scraped off and conveyed to a hopper. This ‘sludge’ is accepted as scrap metal for recycling.
PAPER: The used filter media is rewound on a spool and removed. It is disposed of in an ordinary sanitary landfill. It’s the only EPS waste.
Don't Compare EPS to Dry Shot Blasting
Continuous dry shot blasting of steel strip isn’t practical for replacing acid pickling. The air handling systems require immense space. The dust/air mixture is combustible. All nearby areas become coated in layers of dust.
By contrast, EPS pickling is clean, compact and efficient. It’s completely dustless. Collection and re-use of its abrasive grit is simple and safe. And, since EPS combines the grit with water in a slurry, no embedded grit, scale or contaminants remain on the strip surface.
There are many more advantages EPS has over dry shot blasting.
Click to print the complete list.
Grit for EPS slurry (shown magnified) gets re-used 1000s of times before it’s filtered out and discharged. (click image to enlarge)