The Hindu Business Line : Feasibility report soon on blast furnace at DSP

The Steel Authority of India (SAIL) will soon decide on whether to set up a new blast furnace or refurbish an old one to increase the production of saleable steel at Durgapur Steel Plant to 93 per cent from the existing 46 per cent.According to Mr V. Shyamsundar, Managing Director, DSP, a detailed feasibility report is being prepared by Mecon and is likely to be ready within the next 2-3 months. This would then be placed before SAIL's board for final approval. SAIL would also build a medium structural mill of 0.4-06 million tonnes per annum capacity and a seamless tube plant.

The increased hot metal production would be consumed by the two new finishing units, medium structural mill and seamless tube plant. "A decision on whether to rebuild our first blast furnace or pull it down and build a new one would be taken after studying the pros and cons," Mr Shyamsundar told Business Line.

DSP has four blast furnaces, and is producing 2.088 million tonnes of hot metal through three of them, as the fourth blast furnace has been lying idle since 2002. Once refurbished, DSP's hot metal capacity would increase to 3.2 million tonnes per annum.

Bar & Rod Mill

In its last meeting, the SAIL board had approved a bar and rod mill for DSP, with a capacity of 0.7-0.9 million tonnes per annum. It would have a flexible product mix and would mainly cater to the demands of the infrastructure sector. The cost would be Rs 738 crore, and within the next six months, DSP would place the orders. It would take 22 months to build it.

Once operational, the share of finished saleable steel in DSP's product basket would increase to 77 per cent. The unit would make a substantial contribution to DSP's topline and bottomline growth.

Hot Metal Production

In the existing three blast furnaces, DSP is trying to increase hot metal production through oxygen enrichment, whereby oxygen would be charged into the blast furnace.

This would begin in 2007-08 when the new oxygen plant is ready. This 700 tonnes per day plant is being set up by Praxair India Pvt Ltd on a BOO (build-own-operate) basis.

To reduce its reliance on imported coal, DSP is already following the coal tar injection technology, and from next year, would restart coal dust injection. At present, its total coal requirement is 2 million tonnes, of which 65 per cent is imported.

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