Henkel has helped Envases Técnicos Zaragoza (Entinox), a Spanish manufacturer of stainless steel beer barrels (kegs), set up an innovative pickling and passivating line using a nitric acid-free Bonderite process.
According to Henkel, benefits include high HSE performance and bath life over traditional mixed acid pickling systems as well as fine corrosion resistance.
The challenge in pickling solutions for stainless steel lies in removing all scale, iron contamination and welding oxides for achieving a passivated surface with an even, clean and aesthetic finish. In the food industry and for key products such as beer kegs, the surface must also be free from any traces of pickling agents after the process. In addition, manufacturers face increasingly strict health, safety and environmental (HSE) regulations with regards to the release of potentially harmful substances, such as NOx emissions in air and nitrate effluents in water.
Bonderite C-CP 1300 is the latest generation of Henkel’s established nitric acid-free cleaning technologies that were originally developed several years ago. In contrast to common mixed acid pickling systems, which are still used in many stainless steel segments today, it contains no HNO3 (nitric-acid), while delivering good pickling and passivating results the German company claims.
www.henkel.com