How ANDRITZ transformed idle time into efficiency
Industrial processes are built for high performance — yet true operational excellence is proven in the moments when production slows down. At Outokumpu’s stainless steel cold rolling plant in Krefeld, Germany, ANDRITZ turned this challenge into a breakthrough: an innovative solution that reduces idle mode energy consumption by up to 85%.
Nearly 20 years ago, ANDRITZ supplied a PYROMARS acid regeneration technology to the Krefeld site. The system has operated reliably ever since, even as operational requirements evolved.
As modern production environments demand far greater flexibility and significantly improved energy efficiency, Outokumpu’s Frank Weiers, Technical Project Manager at Outokumpu in Germany, reached out to ANDRITZ suggesting advancements. Jointly, upgrades were specified by the partners, validated and installed.
During reduced pickling activity, only small volumes of waste acid are available. The PYROMARS plant was forced to run in “water mode” — a non productive operating state with unnecessary energy consumption.
A full shutdown was not practical: restarting the system also requires significant amount of energy and places unnecessary strain on equipment.
The key question emerged:
How can we keep the plant ready — without wasting energy when no acid is available?
Developed by ANDRITZ experts in Vienna, the new Energy Saving Mode provides an intelligent and efficient idle state alternative. Instead of shutting down, the plant transitions into an optimized standby mode that drastically lowers consumption while remaining fully available for rapid restart.
On site measurements confirm the transformation:
Prev. energy demand in water mode: 4.32 MW
Energy demand in ES Mode: 0.68 MW
Energy savings: up to 85%
With Energy Saving Mode, the plant stays ready for immediate operation without sacrificing efficiency, equipment protection, or availability.
Programming and commissioning were completed directly in Krefeld. Outokumpu reports strong satisfaction with the operational and environmental benefits.
Service starts where customer demand leads to a fully integrable solution with a clear focus on reducing energy costs in a resource intensive industry. This is our commitment to our customers and to decarbonization.
This project demonstrates how customer proximity, engineering excellence, and innovation culture at ANDRITZ turn operational challenges into sustainable progress — one plant at a time.
Energy efficiency projects are integral to Outokumpu’s broader sustainability strategy, supporting both cost reduction and climate change mitigation goals by reducing energy consumption and emissions intensity across its operations. Outokumpu’s approach to energy efficiency through maintenance projects combines a view on asset and material impact, versatile energy efficiency programs aiming at reducing energy consumption in its stainless-steel production processes, the utilization of waste heat.
The continued strategic focus on optimizing our energy efficiency across all our manufacturing processes, facility management and production assets is a key task for our maintenance team – from harvesting both smaller and bigger energy savings.
Outokumpu’s continuous improvement culture is a key enabler towards reaching its total energy efficiency KPIs: By the end of 2025, Outokumpu group achieved a run-rate improvement of 495 GWh in energy efficiency at global scale. This progress is part of our total target of 600 GWh for energy efficiency improvements.
Mr. Weiers emphasizes: “You can set such ambitious goals when you have a reliable partner like ANDRITZ by your side. It’s a great partnership that allows us to achieve incredible results.”
This Energy Saving Mode has sparked interest among many other customers and facilities, and we have already implemented it in additional settings. We strive to build on such successful collaborations, which enable customer satisfaction and long-term partnerships.
ANDRITZ Metals knows the requirements for continuous, stable, and successful operation of stainless steel pickling lines. PYROMARS is the only mixed acid regeneration system that can handle all typical waste acids from stainless steel pickling processes, and it is also easy to operate. ZEMAP technology transforms stainless steel mixed acid pickling into a zero-effluent process.
Select your process and find out more about our solutions for the stainless steel industry.
With many years of experience in the stainless steel, carbon steel and non-ferrous metal strip industry, ANDRITZ Metals is your experienced life cycle business partner.
