As reported in these columns earlier this week, the process of producing hot metal liquid steel at Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited-Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (RINL-VSP) has started slowing down due to lack of funds and raw materials, primarily coking coal.
Its blast furnace, BF-3 Annapurna, was closed on Thursday (September 12, 2024). BF-1, Godavari, was already closed in March this year. Now only one of the three furnaces of the plant, Krishna, is functional with the available coking coal, which is expected to last for five to six days. If fresh coal stocks do not arrive, the third furnace will also have to be closed down and there will be no steel production at RINL-VSP, which will be the first such instance since the steel plant opened in 1982.
Confirming the blowing down of the Annapurna blast furnace, an RINL-VSP official source told The Hindu that it would be reheated if enough coal was available.
RINL requires at least 14,000 tonnes of coking coal per day to produce at least 20,000 tonnes of hot metal liquid steel through its three furnaces. While it should have at least 45 days of coal stock (6.3 lakh tonnes) at its own yard, currently only around 20,000 tonnes is available, forcing the management to opt for the furnace blowing down option.
Circular
According to reliable sources, the decision to blow down Annapurna BF was made internally a couple of days ago with the approval of various officials and a copy of the order under the title, “Technical Instructions for Blowing Down Blast Furnace-3”, was officially circulated.
The circular said, “The BF will be blown down on September 12 as part of the scaling down operations, in view of shortage of raw materials, mainly coking coal. Blow down will be done up to tuyere level without filling the empty volume of the furnace.
Day-long process
The entire ‘blow down’ operation was carried out under the direct leadership of a senior officer in the Operations Department, assisted by 13 officers from various other departments. It started on Thursday morning and ended late in the night. As a safety measure, fire personnel and ambulances were deployed at the system.
The Annapurna BF started production in 2012 as part of a 7.3 million tonne capacity expansion. It was closed down once earlier for 23 months, from January 2022 to December 2023, due to shortage of raw materials and was restarted in January 2024.
Published - September 12, 2024 07:21 pm IST
