Rourkela Steel Plant

Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), in Rourkela, Odisha is the first integrated steel plant in the public sector in India. It was set up with West German^[1][2] collaboration with an installed capacity of 1 million tonnes in the 1960s. It is operated by Steel Authority of India.^[3]

German metallurgical firms Mannesmann, Krupp, Demag, Siemens and Voestalpine^[4] provided machinery and consultancy to the plant among others. Rourkela Steel Plant was the first steel plant in Asia to use the LD (Linz-Donawitz) process of steel-making. Rourkela Steel Plant has an associated fertilizer plant that produces nitrogeneous fertilizers using ammonia feedstock (from its coke oven plant). On 3 February 1959, then president Rajendra Prasad inaugurated RSP's first blast furnace named 'Parvati' when the company was known as Hindustan Steel Limited (HSL). Subsequently, the RSP became a unit of the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL).

RSP presently has the capacity to produce 2 million tonnes of hot metal, 1.9 million tonnes of crude steel and 1.67 million tonnes of saleable steel. It is SAIL’s only plant that produces silicon steels for the power sector, high quality pipes for the oil and gas sector and tin plates for the packaging industry. Its wide and sophisticated product range includes flat, tubular and coated products.

The capacity of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) is expected to rise to 10.8 MTPA by 2025.^[5]

Upgrade and modernization

Rourkela Steel Plant

Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking at a public meeting after opening the 4.5 MT expansion of the Rourkela Steel Plant, April 2015.

The RSP has many firsts to its credit. It is the first plant in Asia to adopt the energy-efficient LD process of steel making and the first integrated steel plant of SAIL which adopted the cost-effective and quality-centered continuous casting route to process 100% of steel produced. The plant has also, for the first time in India, had adopted external desulphurisation of hot metal by calcium carbide injection process. RSP is one of the unique units under the SAIL umbrella with a wide variety of special purpose steels.

After RSP was set up with the help of German collaboration. Subsequently, its steel making capacity was enhanced to 2 million tonnes and added many units to the facility.

A pipe plant and special plate plant were set up during the 1970s for production of ERW pipes and steel plates for defense requirements. NSPCL,^[6] a joint venture company of NTPC Limited and SAIL, set up a captive power plant of 120 MW capacity to be self-sufficient.

Rourkela Steel Plant undertook a modernization program in 1988 with an outlay of INR 4500 crores. This revamped the process of supply of raw materials, new oxygen plant, improved techniques in blast furnaces, selling of dolomite plant, cast house, slag granulation plant, supply of raw materials sintering plants and coal handling plants among others. Following the modernization RSP became the first SAIL plant to have adopted continuous casting route for all its hot metal production. It is also the first Indian steel plant to have adopted external desulfurisation of hot metal by the calcium carbide injection process.^[7][8]

Steel Authority of India plans to invest for its capacity expansion in its major plants. So Rourkela Steel Plant on modernization and expansion project process is expected to be 4.5 MT steel plant by the year 2013, on existing 2.2 MT. SAIL projected to take SAIL’s hot metal production capacity to a level of 23.5 million tonnes by 2012-13.

• 1964: The Fertilizer Plant was set up in the year 1964 with a view to utilizing the residue of the steel plant and the re-utilization of the chemicals.
• 1970: Pipe Plant and Special Plate Plant was set up for production of pipes and steel plates for defense requirements.
• 1988: The modernization of RSP was begun for producing qualitative materials and establishing its importance in the world market.
• 1998: The modernization program with an outlay of INR 4500 crores.
• 2010: RSP-SAIL plans for its capacity expansion in its existing 2.2 MT to 4.5 MT of production.
• 2013: Rourkela Steel Plant unveiled the country's largest blast furnace named "DURGA" having a useful volume of 4060 cubic metres with a production capacity of 8000 tons hot metal per day, thus increasing its production capacity from 2.2 MT to 4.5 MT.^{[9][10] [11]}

Environment management

As a responsible corporate citizen, RSP has taken effective measures in the area of pollution control in by-product coke oven batteries, Battery No: 4 and 7m tall Battery No: 6. RSP has taken adequate steps to check emissions from coke ovens and has installed air-cooled self-sealing doors resulting in significant reduction in door emissions; doors were designed, manufactured and supplied by Simpex Castings Ltd, Bhilai India.

Almost all major units of the plant, including its Personnel Department and Steel Township, are certified to ISO:9001 standards. RSP’s Silicon Steel Mill, Sintering Plant II, Environment Engineering Department, Plate Mill, Hot Strip Mill, ERW and SW Pipe Plants, Special Plate Plant as well as Steel Township have been awarded ISO:14001 certification for Environment Management.

Awards

• Srishti Good Green Governance Award for 2010
• Global CSR Leadership & Excellence Awards in 2013
• CII-ITC Sustainability Award 2013^[12]
• Greentech Environment Gold Award
• National Energy Conservation Award (2nd Prize)
• Best Corporate Stall

Product mix

SAIL's Rourkela Steel Plant is a unique unit under SAIL with a wide variety of special purpose steels. The use of its products abound. Its HR coils find application in manufacturing LPG cylinders, automobiles, railway wagon chassis and other high-strength type steels.

Products

• Plate mill plates
• HR plates
• HR coils
• ERW pipes
• SW pipes
• CR sheets and coils
• Galvanized sheets
• Electrolytic tin-plates silicon steel sheets
• Heavy and chequered plates
• Electrical steel (CRNO/CRGO)
• GP coils and sheets/GC sheets
• The fertilizer plant produces calcium ammonia nitrate (CAN) fertilizer marketed under the brand name "Sona" (gold).

References

• Rourkela Steel Plan at wikimapia

External links

• Rourkela Steel Plan, website
• SAIL Home page