An electrical steel sheet provided with an insulating coating is disclosed. Therefore, a pre-treatment liquid used on an electrical steel sheet having a forsterite coating on a surface thereof is provided before applying an insulating coating treatment liquid containing at least one salt selected from the group consisting of phosphate, borate, and silicate, the pre-treatment liquid. The pre-treatment liquid includes: at least one inorganic acid selected from the group consisting of hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, and phosphoric acid; and acetic acid, wherein a content of the acetic acid is not less than 1 mass ppm and not more than 3000 mass ppm.

An electrical steel sheet provided with an insulating coating is disclosed. Therefore, a pre-treatment liquid used on an electrical steel sheet having a forsterite coating on a surface thereof is provided before applying an insulating coating treatment liquid containing at least one salt selected from the group consisting of phosphate, borate, and silicate, the pre-treatment liquid. The pre-treatment liquid includes: at least one inorganic acid selected from the group consisting of hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, and phosphoric acid; and acetic acid, wherein a content of the acetic acid is not less than 1 mass ppm and not more than 3000 mass ppm.

A pickling installation for applying a pickling treatment to a metal strip in continuous movement, the pickling treatment using an acid solution, the pickling installation including: a plurality of cascading treatment tanks among which at least one treatment tank includes a spray/injection section for spraying/injecting the acid solution on the metal strip; and collection means for retrieving the sprayed acid solution after use and redirecting the sprayed acid solution to each spray/injection section. The at least one treatment tank has a first header in front of a first face of the metal strip and a second header in front of a second face of the metal strip. In a first treatment tank configuration, each of the first header and the second header have an internal flat surface intended to be parallel respectively to first and second faces of metal strip, and at a distance thereof.

A pickling installation for applying a pickling treatment to a metal strip in continuous movement, the pickling treatment using an acid solution, the pickling installation including: a plurality of cascading treatment tanks among which at least one treatment tank includes a spray/injection section for spraying/injecting the acid solution on the metal strip; and collection means for retrieving the sprayed acid solution after use and redirecting the sprayed acid solution to each spray/injection section. The at least one treatment tank has a first header in front of a first face of the metal strip and a second header in front of a second face of the metal strip. In a first treatment tank configuration, each of the first header and the second header have an internal flat surface intended to be parallel respectively to first and second faces of metal strip, and at a distance thereof.

A substrate processing apparatus includes a substrate holder configured to horizontally hold and rotate a substrate which has a recess and a base metal layer exposed from a bottom surface of the recess; and a pre-cleaning liquid supply configured to supply a pre-cleaning liquid such as dicarboxylic acid or tricarboxylic acid onto the substrate being held and rotated by the substrate holder, to thereby pre-clean the base metal layer. A temperature of the pre-cleaning liquid on the substrate is equal to or higher than 40° C.

A substrate processing apparatus includes a substrate holder configured to horizontally hold and rotate a substrate which has a recess and a base metal layer exposed from a bottom surface of the recess; and a pre-cleaning liquid supply configured to supply a pre-cleaning liquid such as dicarboxylic acid or tricarboxylic acid onto the substrate being held and rotated by the substrate holder, to thereby pre-clean the base metal layer. A temperature of the pre-cleaning liquid on the substrate is equal to or higher than 40° C.

The invention includes a method of reducing a need to re-acidize a hydrocarbon-containing formation. The method comprises providing a composition a HCl and lysine mixture and water wherein a molar ratio between the HCl and the lysine mixture ranges between 3:1 and 12.5:1, and the composition has an initial pH of less than 1; injecting the composition into the formation; allowing a sufficient time for the composition to become a spent acid composition and to subsequently create wormholes in the formation by dissolving calcium carbonate in the formation; maintaining the dissolved calcium carbonate in suspension in the spent acid composition to prevent reprecipitation of the calcium carbonate into the wormholes; removing the spent acid composition containing the dissolved calcium carbonate from the formation; and wherein a pH of the spent acid composition ranges between 4 and 6.

The invention includes a method of reducing a need to re-acidize a hydrocarbon-containing formation. The method comprises providing a composition a HCl and lysine mixture and water wherein a molar ratio between the HCl and the lysine mixture ranges between 3:1 and 12.5:1, and the composition has an initial pH of less than 1; injecting the composition into the formation; allowing a sufficient time for the composition to become a spent acid composition and to subsequently create wormholes in the formation by dissolving calcium carbonate in the formation; maintaining the dissolved calcium carbonate in suspension in the spent acid composition to prevent reprecipitation of the calcium carbonate into the wormholes; removing the spent acid composition containing the dissolved calcium carbonate from the formation; and wherein a pH of the spent acid composition ranges between 4 and 6.

A pickling facility includes: a pickling tank for storing an acid solution; a conveyance part for continuously conveying a steel plate immersed in the acid solution; a measurement part for measuring at least one parameter which has a correlation with a heat transfer coefficient between the acid solution and a reference surface disposed in the acid solution so as to face the steel plate; and a conveyance speed decision part configured to decide a conveyance speed of the steel plate conveyed by the conveyance part, on the basis of a measurement result of the at least one parameter.

Described herein is an aqueous composition for removing cryolitic deposits from plants or parts of plants which serve for the conversion treatment of metal surfaces, said composition including a) at least one mineral acid, and b) at least one dicarboxylic acid of the formula HOOC—(CH.sub.2).sub.x—COOH, where x is 0 to 3 and no borate-containing compounds have been added to the composition. Also described herein is a corresponding method for removing cryolitic deposits.