Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), in a bid to tackle the growing domestic market demand for auto body sheets and light steel, has embarked upon a plan to attain 100 per cent continuous casting at all its integrated steel plants.
The technology already exists in Bhilai and is in the final stages of being installed at the Bokaro and Rourkela plants.
The technology enhancements would be facilitated by the public sector steel giants capital expenditure plan to invest Rs 2,000 crore annually towards the improvement of techno-economic parameters to produce quality steel as per market requirements, company sources told Business Standard.
These investment plans follow the mammoth Rs 12,000 crore worth of investments that have already been made by the company towards modernisation. SAIL has projected that its annual crude steel production by the turn of the century would touch 12 million tonne by the turn of the century as a result of the Rs 12,000 crore investments made in modernising facilities.
It has been proposed that in the post modernisation period the annual crude steel production at Durgapur and Rourkela would touch 1.8 million tonne and 1.9 million tonne respectively. Further investments at Bhilai and Bokaro would add one million tonne to each of their current crude steel capacities, sources added.
Future steel making plans also include an emphasis in the area of hot metal desulphurisation. Desulphurising technology in charging ladles is planned at the Bokaro and Bhilai plants. In the case of continuous casting, apart from the installation of new machines the company plans to adopt soft reduction technology in a few of the casting machines.
SAIL also has plans to completely phase out the open hearth or twin hearth route of steel making and replace its with 100 per cent steel making through the basic oxygen route.
Durgapur, Rourkela and Bokaro have already adopted the basic oxygen route. Surprisingly, Bhilai which is the public sector steel giants most profit making plant still manufactures steel through the open hearth process.
In basic oxygen steel making the companys aim would be to achieve 10,000 heats per year per converter and a minimum of 1000 lining life. To achieve this the company would be adopting several technology innovations.
In its drive to be more market oriented the steel major has in the recent past introduced changes in its product mix with the emphasis being on developing new products in areas where the company perceives latent or emergent demand. A large number of these new products are being manufactured at the Bhilai plant.
During the current financial year the company has also made a tentative entry into the cold rolling segment with the availability of superior quality steel from its recently modernised Bokaro and Rourkela plants.
The current fiscal saw the steel major supplying hot rolled coils in specifications required by the cold rolling segment.
