The International Conference on Advances in Refractories and Clean Steel Making “ARCS 13” was inaugurated on Tuesday at the RDCIS SS Mohanty, Director(Technical & Commercial), SAIl. The conference also atteneded by Prof Shin Ya Kitamura, Tohoku University, Japan, S Chandrasekaran, CEO Bhilai Steel Plant, A Maitra, CEO Bokaro Steel Plant, S Varadarajan, ED In-charge, RDCIS and YK Khanna, GM Steel, RDCIS.
Mohanty in his inaugural speech, deliberated on the growth potential of the Indian Steel sector. He said that India presently produces around 76 Million Tonnes of steel which will go up to 200 MT by 2020. The per capita steel consumption in India hovers around 60 kg/annum compared to the world average of 200 kg/annum.
He also added that SAIl plans to increase its capacity to 24 MT from its current level of 14 MT of Hot Metal production. New grades of steel for auto, defense and line pipe industries with improved cleanliness need to be produced at lower cost, he said. Mohanty also stressed on refractory, essential in steel industry, to be produced with better property and lower cost.
“Attention is needed on refractory material, import substitution, its maintenance practice and recycling. Recycling of used refractory will not only reduce cost but also conserve environment. This conference should help in technology adoption by learning from each other and development of new steel products and refractories. R&D efforts and collaborations are needed for such developmental work,” he said. SAIl spends Rs 150 crores per year on Steel R&D.
A Maitra, CEO Bokaro Steel Plant spoke on clean and green Steel and urged for enhanced refractory lining life. S Chandrasekaran stressed on improving quality of steel and reduce cost of production through better refractory performance.