SAIL to spend Rs 2,875 cr to modernise Durgapur unit

Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), the country’s largest producer, has planned to invest Rs 2,875 crore towards the first phase of modernisation of its integrated steel plant in Durgapur, West Bengal. This would boost the production capacity of finished steel to 1.36 million tonnes from the present 0.75 mt.

Modernisation of the Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP) would improve profitability, due to increase in the finished steel component, besides decreasing the cost of production due to less energy use, said a senior SAIL official, requesting anonymity. After the modernisation, the annual production capacity of hot metal, crude steel and saleable steel is expected to increase to 2.45 mt, 2.20 mt and 2.12 mt from 2.08 mt, 1.80 mt and 1.58 mt at present, respectively.

Recently, SAIL chairman C S Verma inaugurated an auto-strapping system at the plant’s mechanical mill and a modern intensive burn and surgical care unit in the plant’s main hospital. The auto strapping system will replace a manual one and ensure optimum utilisation of strapping materials and other resources, resulting in better branding of SAIL-TMT bars. This is expected to result in better working conditions during handling, loading and unloading of TMT bars produced.

SAIL has already said it would enter into a joint venture agreement with Japan’s Kobe Steel to set up a new mill at Durgapur using the Japanese ITMk3 technology, a more cost-efficient and environment-friendly technology in producing iron nuggets.

Some of the major facilities that would be undertaken as part of the expansion drive are a new medium structural mill having a capacity of a million tonnes, upgradation of the existing coke oven battery and a new bloom-cum-round caster that would phase out the energy-intensive ingot casting-blooming mill route.

The new medium structural mill would produce universal beams and also conventional items like channels, angles, rounded corner squares and rounds. The expansion drive is to also see de-bottlenecking of the raw material handling and coal handling plants. The present 1-mt by-product plant at DSP would also be revamped to include a new benzol plant.

Development of the Chiria mines (Jharkhand), which recently got approval from the Union environment ministry, would also be vital in supporting the expansion drive that SAIL has planned to undertake for DSP. After depletion of SAIL’s existing mines in the eastern region, the Chiria mines will be the sole source of iron ore for SAIL’s four integrated steel plants at Bokaro, Burnpur, Durgapur and Rourkela.