Recently, the new generation high-pressure water descaling system independently developed by Guangyuan Cleaning Equipment Co., Ltd. has completed full-line debugging and officially entered commercial operation at Zhengzhou Coal Mining Machinery Group Co., Ltd. Through core technology iteration and intelligent control optimization, this system not only improves the descaling efficiency in the hot rolling process of steel to over 99.5%, but also achieves a dual breakthrough of reducing unit energy consumption by 18% and increasing water resource recycling rate to 95%, providing a brand-new solution for the green and low-carbon transformation of the steel industry.
High-pressure water descaling is a key process in steel hot rolling production. Its core principle is to use the high-pressure water flow generated by a high-pressure water pump to impact the iron oxide scale (phosphorus scale) formed on the surface of the hot-rolled steel billet, thereby ensuring the surface quality and subsequent processing accuracy of the steel. Traditional descaling systems generally suffer from problems such as high energy consumption, water waste, and incomplete descaling. Especially in continuous rolling scenarios of high-temperature steel billets, residual scale and unstable water pressure are prone to occur, which not only affects the product qualification rate but also increases equipment maintenance costs.
The newly implemented generation of high-pressure water descaling system focuses on industry pain points and achieves three core upgrades. First, at the core power end, the R&D team adopted a high-efficiency variable-frequency high-pressure water pump group, coupled with an independently designed constant-pressure control algorithm, which can adjust the water pressure in real time according to the steel billet temperature and rolling speed (adjustment range 180-250 bar), avoiding the energy waste caused by "full-load operation" of traditional systems. Each production line can save approximately 120,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. Secondly, the nozzle layout and water jet angle have been optimized. By simulating the distribution pattern of scale on the steel billet surface, the original single-row nozzles have been upgraded to a matrix-type adaptive nozzle group, ensuring that the high-pressure water flow covers the steel billet surface without blind spots. The descaling qualification rate has been increased from the original 92% to over 99.5%, significantly reducing the rate of defective steel products caused by residual scale. In addition, the system is equipped with a closed-loop water circulation treatment module. Through multi-stage filtration and softening processes, it achieves the recycling and reuse of water for descaling, requiring only a small amount of fresh water to meet production needs, saving approximately 30,000 tons of water annually.
"The commissioning of the new generation high-pressure water descaling system is an important measure for us to promote the green and intelligent transformation of our production process," said the production manager of Zhengzhou Coal Mining Machinery Group. He added that the system not only solves the energy consumption and environmental protection problems of traditional descaling processes but also achieves real-time monitoring and early warning of equipment operating status and descaling effects through a digital monitoring platform, reducing manual inspection costs and overall reducing the comprehensive production cost of the hot rolling process by approximately 10%. It is estimated that if this system is promoted and applied in the national steel industry, it can reduce the industry's annual electricity consumption by over 500 million kilowatt-hours and save over 10 million tons of water, resulting in significant environmental and economic benefits.
Industry experts point out that high-pressure water descaling technology is one of the core supporting technologies for the steel hot rolling process. This upgrade marks a shift from "following" to "leading" in this field in my country. With the advancement of the "dual carbon" goals in the steel industry, efficient, energy-saving, and environmentally friendly descaling systems will become an important direction for industry upgrading, and also provide a reference for process optimization in other metallurgical processing fields. Currently, several steel companies have reached cooperation intentions with the R&D team and plan to gradually introduce the system to promote the overall improvement of the industry's process level.
