Steel companies step up oxygen supply across India to aid Covid-19 patients

In the last 40 days, RINL has supplied more than 4,000 tonnes of liquid oxygen to the local state administration, at an average of 100 tonnes a day

Steel companies are stepping in to plug the gap in oxygen requirement for the treatment of Covid-19.

Companies like JSW Steel, Steel Authority of India (SAIL) and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL) have been supplying to state administrations where their plants are located.

In the last 40 days, RINL supplied more than 4,000 tonnes of liquid oxygen to Andhra Pradesh through government agencies, at an average of 100 tonnes a day. SAIL is supplying 300-400 tonnes a day from its plants. JSW Steel has started supplying 110 tonnes from the Vijaynagar plant to the Karnataka administration and 100 tonnes daily from Dolvi to the Maharashtra administration, especially for Pune. 

Steel companies have oxygen plants/air separation units for their own requirements. Steel making is an oxidation process; in the steel melting shop, oxygen reacts with impurities like carbon, silicon, phosphorus and sulphur in hot metal to produce steel. 

“It is a reductant, and used in different stages of the steelmaking process,” said Sushim Banerjee, director general, Institute for Steel Development and Growth.

The oxygen plants produce gaseous oxygen and only fluctuations in demand are adjusted by the liquid oxygen which is a small percentage. 
 

The gaseous part cannot be transported; but liquid oxygen is being transported by tankers.

“In Dolvi, JSW Steel can produce 4,460 tonnes of oxygen per day, but it is gaseous. The liquid part is small, which we sent to Pune,” said sources in JSW.

Steel plants are one of the agencies that are supplying oxygen, said steel ministry sources. “We are pulling in resources and collating information from steel plants and coordinating with the health ministry and DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade),” said steel ministry sources. 

On September 15, steel minister Dharmendra Pradhan tweeted that the ministry was collaborating with the DPIIT and the ministry of health and family welfare to provide medical oxygen to various hospitals, pan Indian. About 4,329 tonnes of medical oxygen have been supplied by the steel plants in the last four days. 

“Our steel family is geared up to contribute to the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic,” he further tweeted.

States that have received oxygen from steel plants are Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Haryana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Telengana, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

The ministry is understood to be operationalising a portal for the purpose of gathering information on what different steel plants would be able to supply. “Whoever needs it will be informed about the availability,” said sources in the ministry.

Steel companies are now looking at how to step up daily supply levels. “So far, we have been supplying to the administration in states where we operate. Now, we are planning to supply to any state that needs oxygen,” said JSW Steel sources. 

The health ministry, too, recently said that 29 states and union territories had been asked to coordinate with steel plants for oxygen procurement. 

He had, however, clarified that there was no shortage but problems occur when there is no inventory management at the facility level.

With the rising number of Covid-19 cases, steel companies could play an important role in meeting the oxygen requirements. 

India is now the second worst Covid-hit country with its tally crossing the 5.2-million mark.