Steel, oil ministers inaugurate JSPL's oxygen furnace, other facilities

Dharmendra Pradhan said about 80% of coking coal is imported by India

Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL)'s basic oxygen furnace (BOF) at its integrated steel plant as also other facilities were inaugurated today by Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

The ministers also inaugurated a 2 million tonne per annum (MTPA) DRI plant, a blast furnace -- billed as India's largest -- and coal gasification plant for making steel based on indigenous coal.

While the coal gasification plant was inaugurated by Pradhan, the other three facilities were inaugurated by Singh.

Four key steel manufacturing facilities are being dedicated to the nation, JSPL Chairman Naveen Jindal told reporters here.

Naming the facilities, he said "The 4554 cubic metre Blast Furnace (BF) is India's largest and The 3 MTPA Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) the most modern BOF in the country.".

He also said that the 2 MTPA DRI Plant at Angul unit is world's largest syngas-based plant and for the first time a company in India is using coal gasification method for steel making.

"This is for the first time that any company in India is using coal gasification method to make steel," Jindal said.

The coal gasification plant has been set up with an investment of Rs 10,000 crore and the technology being used was brought from Germany, Jindal said.

Singh said about 80 per cent of coking coal is imported by India.

"We remain dependent on imports (for coking coal) but Naveen (Jindal) has come out with a plan which can make us reduce this dependence," he said.

The minister added that the new technology of making steel by coal gasification helps in producing the metal using domestic coal.

The company's 6 MTPA plant at Angul is the largest steel manufacturing plant in Odisha, spread across 3,500 acres.

It has 1.5 MTPA rebar mill, 1.2 MTPA plate mill, 2.3 MTPA billet caster, 1.7 MTPA slab caster and 2.75 MTPA new electric oxygen furnace.

It also has 810 MW capacity power plant for captive use.