After three years of construction and an investment of €120 million ($120m), thyssenkrupp Rasselstein has commissioned its tinplate coating line 13.
The new plant uses chromium(III) in the manufacturing process instead of the chromium(VI) previously used, Kallanish learns from the company. Thus, the new manufacturing process fully complies with the requirements of EU REACH regulation. The new production plant is the largest single investment at the Andernach site in around 15 years.
The new coating line enables the chrome-plating of even wider and thinner sheets, the company explains. It claims that, technologically, line 13 is the most modern plant of its kind – also because more efficient and energy-saving processes are realised with a digitalised workflow. Chrome-plated material is used for lids and bases for pet food cans, valve disks on aerosol cans, crown corks or printing ink cans.
“This major investment marks an important and very special milestone in the history of thyssenkrupp Steel,” says Bernhard Osburg, chief executive of Rasselstein parent thyssenkrupp Steel. He adds that the world’s largest production site for packaging steel adheres to the highest sustainability standards.
Christian Koehl Germany