SAIL to set up 4 pellet plants at a cost of Rs 3,600 cr

The Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) will set up four pellet plants over the next two-to-three years to utilise fines generated by its mines. Mr G. S. Prasad, Executive Director, Centre for Engineering and Technology, told Business Line that the use of pellets was aimed at increasing blast furnace productivity by 25 per cent at its plants.

Three of the four pellet plants would be set up at pitheads — thereby saving on the cost of transportation as well as on environmental issues. The fourth one would be close to Bokaro Steel Plant (BSP). The pellet plants would entail a total investment of Rs 3,600 crore. Close to 50 per cent of the total investment would be funded through SAIL's internal accruals, Mr Prasad said.

The company would set up a four-million-tonne per annum pellet plant each in the Gua mine in Jharkhand and the Bolani mine in Orissa, a 1.5-million-tonne-per-annum plant in the Dalli-Rajhara mine in Bhilai and a two-million-tonne-per-annum pellet plant near the Bokaro Steel Plant.

“The pellets from these plants will replace about seven-to-eight per cent of the total iron ore requirement of the blast furnace in SAIL's existing steel plants and about 15 per cent at the upcoming plants of IISCO (Indian Iron and Steel Company), RSP (Rourkela Steel Plant) and Bhilai,” he said.

The use of pellets would enhance the productivity of its blast furnaces to 2.25 tonne/cubic metre/day (1.8 tonne/cubic metre/day).

SAIL currently uses the sintering method for extraction of ore lumps. Close to 40 per cent of the ore obtained from mining were lumps, while the remaining was fines, thereby, necessitating the need for pelletisation.

CET was working closely with SAIL's raw material division for these plants. “The pellet plant in the Gua mine is in an advanced stage and will be operational by the end of this year or early next year. The approximate investment in the plant is about Rs 1,200 crore,” he said.

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