Corporate
BSP installs mushroom design dome on upcoming BF No. 8 Steel Insights Bureau
T
he Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) has reached yet another important milestone in the fast progressing Blast Furnace (BF-8) project execution work in Bhilai Steel Plant, with the installation of ‘mushroom dome’ on the second of the three hot stoves of the upcoming furnace. The dome was successfully erected on Stove No. 2 on November 29, 2012, according to information available with Steel Insights. It may be recalled that the erection of dome on stove No. 1 was done on October 7, 2012. The domes of stoves in BF#8 area have a unique mushroom design to take care of thermal stresses as a result of higher dome temperature. A state-of-the-art technology being introduced for the first time in Bhilai Steel Plant, the mushroom design of the dome helps in achieving longer campaign life of stoves. The dome, weighing about 100 tons, was assembled outside and placed in position as a single piece on top of the stove at a height of 39 metres. With placement of the dome, the total height of stove increased to 45 metres. The erection activity executed by L&T was done under the supervision of Blast Furnace Zone of the plant’s project department. It is worth mentioning that the work of erection of hot stoves had been inaugurated on September 14, 2011. There are three hot stoves of special design in mushroom dome shape in BF 8. Each shell comprises the base plate, 16 rings and the dome. The total structure weighs 410 tons. Special grade plates of various thickness ranging from 25 mm to 50 mm were used for the shell. Among the other milestones in BF 8 Project crossed recently is the installation of the top cone of Furnace Shell weighing 130 tons and consisting of four shell rings on
October 19, 2012, marking the completion of erection of the Furnace Shell. Yet another critical job was begun in the BF 8 Project with inauguration of the job of layering refractory castable of furnace bottom in Furnace Proper area on October 8, 2012. Hot metal production
SAIL recorded a growth of 4 percent in hot metal and 2 percent each in crude steel and saleable steel production for October 2012 over the corresponding period last year, the company said in a statement.
Visa Steel in coke making JV with SunCoke Visa Steel Ltd. has announced that it has entered into a coke-making joint venture in India with SunCoke Energy of the US. Visa Steel will hold a 51% majority stake in the JV, while Illinois-based SunCoke Energy will invest around Rs 368 crore to acquire the remaining 49% in the transaction that is expected to close in the first quarter of 2013. The JV will include Visa Steel’s current 400,000 tons/year heat recovery coke plant in Odisha, India. “The demand for coke from large and medium-size steel producers has been increasing substantially and there is potential to grown the coke business on a standalone basis,” Visa Steel chairman Vishambhar Saran said in a statement.
Production of hot metal, crude steel and saleable steel for October 2012 stood at 1.2 million tons (mt), 1.14 mt and 1.01 mt respectively. As for the period of AprilOctober 2012, the C S Verma, Chairman, SAIL company produced 7.2 mt of saleable steel products against 7 mt produced in the same period last year. Production of hot metal and crude steel stood at 8.4 mt and 7.9 mt respectively, registering a growth of 3 percent over the same period last year. On the front of techno-economics of production, SAIL’s performance was marked with an upward trend in blast furnace productivity, coke rate and energy consumption by 4 percent, 2 percent and 2 percent respectively. SAIL to expand capacity to 18 mt
The leading steel manufacturer of the country said it will expand its production capacity to 18 million tons (mt) from existing 14 mt by the end of current financial year. “Our phase-I capacity expansion target is 24 mt. Of that, this year we will be starting two new blast furnaces, our total hot metal production capacity will go up to 18 mt by the end of the (financial) year,” SAIL chairman C.S. Verma said. Speaking to mediapersons after the halfyearly review of the company’s performance by the government, he said that two new blast furnaces at its Rourkela and Burnpur plants will become operational in next few months. Besides, the company will also be commissioning a new cold rolling mill at Bokaro plant by the fiscal end. SAIL has spent about `39,000 crore so far on capacity expansion (out of a targeted investment of `72,000 crore). According to Verma, the company is aiming to increase its market share up to 30 percent by 2020 and the steelmaker will be expanding its capacity to 45 mt by then. The company is at present the largest steel producer with a capacity of 14 mt. Besides, it has a total market share of about 18 percent.
Steel Insights, December 2012
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