Ispat Dolvi Plant First Phase To Go On Stream In Dec

The first phase of a three-million tonne steel plant of the Ispat Industries will be commissioned at Dolvi in Maharashtra in December.

With the commissioning of the first phase, the Rs 4,792-crore Dolvi plant will be the pioneer in producing 1.2 mm HR coils, P K Mittal, vice-chairman and managing director of Ispat Group of Industries, said in a release.

Till now thinner gauges were being imported. The plant will use the thin slab casting technology from Schloemann-Siemag (SMS) of Germany. IIL will also produce major quantities of special grades such as medium carbon, micro-alloy, high silicon and carbon steel. Mittal said, the hot rolled steel plant is a step towards forward integration for the existing sponge iron plant at Dolvi and the backward integration for the cold rolling and coating complex of IIL at Nagpur.

 

It will attain a capacity of 1.5 million tonnes in the first stage. The remaining 1.5 million tonnes capacity is scheduled to become critical next year.

He said the steel plant has been equipped with the twin shell ARC furnace from Mannesman Demag of Germany, which will use hot metal (liquid pig iron), sponge iron as well as scrap as part of the charge-mix, resulting in substantial energy and cost savings.

While steel making through the conventional process electric arc furnace consumes about 650 kw energy per hour per tonne, IIL plants twin shell electric arc furnace will consume only 270-280 kw per hour pertonne.

The technology used also provides the advantage of 33 per cent lower mill operating cost and two per cent higher yields in the conversions from liquid steel to hot rolled coils.

The plant has its captive power unit with a capacity of 340 mw. It has a multi-fuel capacity. It also optimises hot air and waste heat.