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SAIL Commissions Second Ladle Furnace at Rourkela Steel Plant
Aug. 24, 2010 Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) Chairman C.S. Verma has inaugurated the second ladle furnace of Steel Melting Shop-II at Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP). The ladle furnace is part of a Rs 197.66 crore scheme for “simultaneous blowing in Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) convertors” at RSP.
The scheme was conceived under SAIL’s current modernization and expansion plan to take its hot metal production capacity to 23.5 million tonnes by 2012-13.
The 150-tonne ladle furnace, procured from M/s Danieli India Ltd., is meant for secondary refining of steel for finer chemistry control and maintenance of ideal temperature for continuous casting. The additional ladle furnace will enhance the production capacity of SMS-II from the current 1.68 million tonnes per annum to 1.85 million tonnes of liquid steel per annum.
Oxygen required for simultaneous blowing of both the converters will be met by Oxygen Plant-III, which SAIL says will be commissioned shortly.
Total investments planned for different facilities as a part of RSP modernization and expansion is Rs. 11,812 crore.
Other units and facilities to come under Rourkela’s growth plan include a 7.0-m-tall COB No.6 (1 x 67 ovens), Sinter Plant-3 (1 x 360 m2), Blast Furnace-5 (4060 m3 useful volume), third BOF (150 tonne), LF, RH-OB and third single-strand Slab Caster with balancing facilities and 4.3-m-wide Plate Mill of 1 million tonnes per annum.