Numerical analysis of industrial electrolytic pickling for cold-rolled flat stainless steel using secondary current distribution

Electrolytic neutral pickling (ENP) is a process to remove undesired surface oxides formed during the annealing of cold-rolled flat stainless steel products. It is a key production step that ensures the corrosion resistance of the material. However, the process suffers from poor current and energy e...

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Main Authors: Alvaro M. Bossio, Edoardo Basilico, Ruben Gielen, Maarten Blommaert, Jan Fransaer, Martine Baelmans
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-12-01
Series:Results in Engineering
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590123024016372
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author Alvaro M. Bossio
Edoardo Basilico
Ruben Gielen
Maarten Blommaert
Jan Fransaer
Martine Baelmans
author_facet Alvaro M. Bossio
Edoardo Basilico
Ruben Gielen
Maarten Blommaert
Jan Fransaer
Martine Baelmans
author_sort Alvaro M. Bossio
collection DOAJ
description Electrolytic neutral pickling (ENP) is a process to remove undesired surface oxides formed during the annealing of cold-rolled flat stainless steel products. It is a key production step that ensures the corrosion resistance of the material. However, the process suffers from poor current and energy efficiency, which causes it to be the bottleneck step in the production of a wide range of grades. In this article, a finite element model is implemented and validated using data collected during typical operation in a real industrial cell configuration. While the cell voltage is, in general, overestimated by the model, the slope of the polarization curve is predicted by the model with a relative error of 4%. The by-pass current and the voltage efficiency are evaluated numerically for different values of the cell current. The strip current efficiency (i.e. the relative strip current) is found to be above 90% for a typical cell configuration under typical operating conditions. This value is much larger than most reported values in the literature, and suggests that by-pass current is not the limiting factor in industrial ENP cells. The voltage efficiency, found to be under 20%, and the competition with oxygen evolution, seem to be more concerning points. The low voltage efficiency is mainly due to the high ohmic overpotentials, which account between 50% and 60% of the total cell voltage.
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publishDate 2024-12-01
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spelling doaj-art-3d440d1b64344e4cb2ca7a8dc0b87b9c2024-12-19T10:59:14ZengElsevierResults in Engineering2590-12302024-12-0124103384Numerical analysis of industrial electrolytic pickling for cold-rolled flat stainless steel using secondary current distributionAlvaro M. Bossio0Edoardo Basilico1Ruben Gielen2Maarten Blommaert3Jan Fransaer4Martine Baelmans5Department of Mechanical Engineering, Celestijnenlaan 300, 3001, Leuven, Belgium; Corresponding author.Aperam Stainless Research Center, Rue Pierre Loti BP53, 62330, Isbergues, FranceAperam Stainless Belgium, Swinnenwijerweg 5, 3600, Genk, BelgiumDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Celestijnenlaan 300, 3001, Leuven, BelgiumDepartment of Material Sciences, Kasteelpark Arenberg 44, 3001, Leuven, BelgiumDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Celestijnenlaan 300, 3001, Leuven, BelgiumElectrolytic neutral pickling (ENP) is a process to remove undesired surface oxides formed during the annealing of cold-rolled flat stainless steel products. It is a key production step that ensures the corrosion resistance of the material. However, the process suffers from poor current and energy efficiency, which causes it to be the bottleneck step in the production of a wide range of grades. In this article, a finite element model is implemented and validated using data collected during typical operation in a real industrial cell configuration. While the cell voltage is, in general, overestimated by the model, the slope of the polarization curve is predicted by the model with a relative error of 4%. The by-pass current and the voltage efficiency are evaluated numerically for different values of the cell current. The strip current efficiency (i.e. the relative strip current) is found to be above 90% for a typical cell configuration under typical operating conditions. This value is much larger than most reported values in the literature, and suggests that by-pass current is not the limiting factor in industrial ENP cells. The voltage efficiency, found to be under 20%, and the competition with oxygen evolution, seem to be more concerning points. The low voltage efficiency is mainly due to the high ohmic overpotentials, which account between 50% and 60% of the total cell voltage.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590123024016372Electrolytic neutral picklingStainless steelMathematical modelingElectrochemical engineeringCurrent efficiency
spellingShingle Alvaro M. Bossio
Edoardo Basilico
Ruben Gielen
Maarten Blommaert
Jan Fransaer
Martine Baelmans
Numerical analysis of industrial electrolytic pickling for cold-rolled flat stainless steel using secondary current distribution
Results in Engineering
Electrolytic neutral pickling
Stainless steel
Mathematical modeling
Electrochemical engineering
Current efficiency
title Numerical analysis of industrial electrolytic pickling for cold-rolled flat stainless steel using secondary current distribution
title_full Numerical analysis of industrial electrolytic pickling for cold-rolled flat stainless steel using secondary current distribution
title_fullStr Numerical analysis of industrial electrolytic pickling for cold-rolled flat stainless steel using secondary current distribution
title_full_unstemmed Numerical analysis of industrial electrolytic pickling for cold-rolled flat stainless steel using secondary current distribution
title_short Numerical analysis of industrial electrolytic pickling for cold-rolled flat stainless steel using secondary current distribution
title_sort numerical analysis of industrial electrolytic pickling for cold rolled flat stainless steel using secondary current distribution
topic Electrolytic neutral pickling
Stainless steel
Mathematical modeling
Electrochemical engineering
Current efficiency
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590123024016372
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