Biggest blast furnace to be set up in RSP

The biggest blast furnace in the country, furnace 4060 M3 no five,  will be set up in Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) as part of its  modernisation and expansion programme to be over by 2011.     

The Stage II modernisation and expansion programme of RSP was approved by Steel Authority of India Limited (Sail) for the new units, RSP sources said.     

The present modernisation and expansion will be the biggest in the steel history whereby capacity of the plant will be doubled from its existing two million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 4.5 MTPA in hot metal production, sources said.     

The blast furnace number five 4060 M3 will be the biggest one after the modernisation with support facilities, sinter plant, a seven metre tall coke oven battery having 67 ovens, blending plant with new unloading station  additional beds for raw materials storage, additional stacking and reclaiming equipment and additional base mix preparation units, the sources said.     

Similarly, the crude steel production capacity will be raised to 4.2 MTPS as against present capacity of 1.9 MTPA and that of saleable steel will be 3.9 MTPA against the present capacity of 1.67 MTPA.