SP GETS NEW BLOOM CASTER
The Steel Authority
of India Limited (SAIL) Board has recently approved a new bloom
caster for Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP) which will enable the plant
in shifting to the cc route from the traditionally 'cost and energy
intensive' top poured ingot route. The four strand bloom caster
would have a capacity to produce 0.85 million tonnes of blooms
per annum. The package also includes a reheating furnace of 110t/hr
capacity. The installation of the bloom caster, will bring about
substantial improvements in production and quality and help reduce
operating cost.
The plant continued
to post decent growth rates on the production front. The hot metal
production during the first four months of the current fiscal
crossed 6.23 lakh tonnes achieving a growth rate of 5.6 percent
over the same period of the previous year. Similarly, the crude
steel production at 5.37 lakh tonnes achieved a growth rate of
2.8 percent. The continuous casting plant produced 3.18 lakh tonnes
and clocked a growth rate of 4.1 percent. Substantial growth rates
were also achieved in the production of sinter, blend mix and
oven pushing. DSP's performance improved on the techno-economics
front with it's blast furnaces achieving the lowest ever coke
rate since inception in July, 2003. The overall energy consumption
has also improved substantially.
