RSP registers new record in steel ladle life

Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) Thursday said it has registered a new record in steel ladle life in steel melting shop-II department.

This is also the highest life of steel ladle achieved in India with mag-carbon bricks. The plant scripted the record by clocking the highest ever steel ladle life of 191 heats in a single campaign surpassing the earlier best steel ladle life of 180 heats achieved in April 2019, RSP said in a release.

The ladle was taken down for relining on May 21, 2019. This is highest among all SAIL units as well. The significant achievement was made possible because of the dedicated and coordinated efforts of Refractory Engineering (Services) and Steel Melting Shop-II (Operation), it said.

Notably, the steel ladle was due for slag zone repair on March 7, 2019 after the supplier's campaign was over.

However, the Refractory Engineering (Services) department after inspecting the steel ladle observed that the metal zone condition of the ladle was in good shape and the metal zone left over thickness was found to be in excess of 130 millimeters.

So, considering the potential of the ladle, the RE (S) team decided to continue the ladle in service with slag zone repair. The ladle had a guaranteed life of 120 heats.

However, the collective carried out the slag zone repairs to achieve the record lining life of the steel ladle.

The endeavour ensured intangible benefits achieved through enhanced ladle availability and improved productivity.

The effort is one amongst many such initiatives being undertaken by the enterprising RSP collective to reduce cost of production and further improve techno-economics of the plant, the release added.