Against the backdrop of the "Dual Carbon" goals, the cold-rolled welded pipe industry—a crucial foundational material in the industrial sector—is undergoing a profound green transformation. By adopting cutting-edge technologies such as efficient acid mist treatment, eco-friendly lubrication, and waste heat recovery, the industry has shed its previous image of high energy consumption and heavy emissions. While enhancing product quality and production efficiency, it has simultaneously achieved synergistic progress in energy conservation, emission reduction, and resource optimization, paving the way for a new path of green manufacturing.

In the workshop of a large welded pipe manufacturing enterprise in Handan, Hebei Province, a brand-new high-speed cold-rolled welded pipe production line is running smoothly. Compared to traditional lines, the most immediate improvement here is the significantly enhanced air quality—those once-pervasive, irritating acid mists and oily fumes have vanished, replaced by a clean and pristine production environment. This transformation is the result of the company’s ongoing, substantial investments in advanced environmental protection technologies.

“Environmental protection is no longer a ‘cost center’—it has become a reflection of a company’s core competitiveness,” the company’s general manager told reporters. “We’ve invested tens of millions of yuan in stages to upgrade our production lines with eco-friendly technologies, with the most critical step being the green transformation of our two major processes: acid pickling and cold rolling.”

Acid pickling is a critical step in welded pipe production for removing rust and impurities, but traditional acid-pickling processes generate significant amounts of acid mist, posing risks to both the environment and worker health. Today, the company has adopted an advanced acid-mist containment and collection system, coupled with a spray-tower neutralization process. The entire acid-pickling tank is effectively sealed, ensuring that any acid mist produced is instantly captured by a negative-pressure fan and directed into a treatment tower, where it undergoes a neutralizing reaction with alkaline liquid. This innovative approach ensures virtually harm-free emissions, achieving a removal efficiency rate exceeding 99%. Moreover, the treated exhaust gases not only meet but often surpass even the stringent national emission standards.

In the cold-rolling process, another environmental challenge lies in the oil fumes generated during the rolling lubrication stage. To address this issue, the company has introduced a fully synthetic, eco-friendly cooling lubricant that replaces traditional mineral oil. "This new type of lubricant not only delivers superior lubrication performance, enhancing the surface finish of steel pipes—but more importantly, it produces minimal oil mist during high-speed rolling and boasts a high biodegradability rate. As a result, it significantly reduces VOCs (volatile organic compounds) at the source, alleviating the pressure associated with their subsequent treatment," added the workshop’s technical supervisor.

In addition to end-of-pipe governance, the circular utilization of energy is a standout feature of the green transition. Companies have installed waste heat recovery systems in their welding processes. The substantial heat generated by high-frequency welding machines no longer gets needlessly released into the atmosphere—it’s now captured and reused to provide winter heating for the workshop or to heat domestic hot water, resulting in an overall reduction in energy consumption of about 15%.

“After delivering this comprehensive set of measures, we’ve calculated the overall benefits,” the general manager admitted. “Although the initial investment was substantial, the equipment upgrade has boosted our product quality rate by 2 percentage points, while significantly reducing energy and material consumption—resulting in annual savings of over one million yuan in energy and chemical costs alone. More importantly, we’ve not only met the most stringent environmental regulations but also secured orders from numerous high-end clients who prioritize green supply chains. In fact, this investment has proven to be well worth it.”

Industry experts point out that the green transformation of the cold-rolled welded pipe sector serves as a microcosm of China's traditional manufacturing industry moving toward high-quality development. It demonstrates that, through technological innovation, it is entirely possible to achieve environmental and social benefits in tandem with economic gains. As environmental regulations continue to tighten and market competition intensifies, green manufacturing is no longer an optional choice—it has become the only viable path for companies to ensure their future survival and growth.