Neelachal Ispat hopes to save Rs 200 cr using coke replacement technology

CDI technology, which involves use of cheaper coal or coal dust, will also enhance hot metal productivity at the blast furnace

Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL), a steel PSU co-promoted by MMTC Ltd and two Odisha government-owned entities, hopes to save around Rs 200 crore on its annual production cost by deploying Coal Dust Injection (CDI) technology at the blast furnace of its Kalinganagar plant.

NINL, known to be the country’s biggest producer-cum-exporter of pig iron, runs a 1.1 million tonne per annum (mtpa) steel unit at Duburi within the Kalinganagar Industrial Complex, touted as Odisha’s steel hub.

“Adoption of CDI technology will help us replace 150 kilograms (kg) of coking coal per tonne of hot metal production. The process will be 30 per cent cheaper than use of coking coal. It will also cut our dependence on coking coal whose prices are volatile and supplies are concentrated in a handful of players, mostly from Australia and Canada”, said S S Mohanty, vice chairman & managing director at NINL.

Mohanty said, the commencement of operations from NINL’s captive iron mines promises to be a game-changer. “The opening of our own mines will obviate the need to buy from others. It will also accrue savings of Rs 150-200 crore on our operations”.

Meanwhile, the CDI technology will result in improvement of techno-economic parameters and enhance hot metal productivity at the blast furnace.

CDI facilitates consumption of cheaper coal in blast furnace replacing the expensive coke thereby cutting down of cost. The facility will augment the efficiency and raw material optimization by facilitating direct consumption of coal and reducing coke rate. At NINL, CDI of blast furnace will have design capacity of injection up to 150 kg per tonne of hot metal.

NINL accomplished capital repair of its blast furnace in April last year. Subsequently, it set new benchmarks in single-day, monthly, quarterly and half-yearly Hot Metal production. The company has also resumed steel billet production at its state-of-the-art Steel Melting Shop (SMS) from December, 2018 and expects to start operation of its captive mines towards early next fiscal.

MMTC is the top equity holder in NINL with a share of 49.9 per cent. Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and Industrial Promotion & Investment Corporation of Odisha Ltd (Ipicol), the two state run PSUs, are the other major stakeholders.