BEP Surface Technologies offer an internal cleaning service. We pump hot hydrochloric acid through the roll for 24 hours, and then neutralise and flush with water. If you have a roll that is overheating or you know is not getting sufficient flow, this acid clean process can often remove corrosion or a blockage and restore normal flow through the roll and bring it back to normal working condition.

We often get asked ‘can you internal clean our roll on site? We have had companies who have been able to offer this in the past.’ Whenever we have come across a company who offers on-site internal cleaning processes, this has always turned out to be a clean using citric acid, which is much milder and does not do anything like as much to remove corrosion as the hydrochloric acid used by BEP. As it is a much weaker acid it is also much safer to transport, which is why this process can be used on site where our more effective internal clean can only be performed at our factory in Bury.

It is not uncommon for us to get a roll in for internal clean only, often with another roll coming in for surface/journal refurbishment. Whenever this happens we ask our customer if they want the refurbished roll to be acid cleaned as well, the response we usually get is ‘no, we are not having any problems with flow through that roll at the moment’. This view, that an internal clean is something that only needs to be done to fix a problem once it occurs, and if there is good flow then there is no benefit to an internal clean, is one that we have seen cause problems for some of our customers in the past. At BEP, we would like to encourage our customers to view internal cleaning as part of the scheduled maintenance that should be done regularly, to prevent problems caused by blockages or low flow from occurring in the first place. This way the internal clean can be planned in ahead of time to ensure that production is not affected. In some cases, if a roll has gone too long without an internal clean, the corrosion build-up can be so severe that the internal clean is not able to fix it and the roller will have to be scrapped. A regular internal clean can avoid this problem by making sure corrosion is kept to a minimum at all times.