The two day International Conference REFIS-4.0 on "The Future of Refractories in Iron and Steel Industry" began on 23rd September at BSL's Human Resource Development centre hosted by Bokaro Steel Plant. The Director of IIT-ISM, Dhanbad, Professor Rajeev Shekhar was present as the chief guest. ED (Works) BK Tiwari, ED (P&A) Sanjay Kumar, ED (Materials Management) A Srivastava, ED (Projects) CR Mohapatra , CEO (BPSCL) KK Thakur, Organizing Committee Chairman and Executive Director (SRU) PK Rath, ED (Collieries) Anoop Kumar, ED (Mines) J Das Gupta, other Executive Directors of SAIL, Organizing Committee Co-Chairman and Chief General Manager (Refractories) VP Upadhyay, Organizing Committee Co-General Manager (Refractories) Sandeep S. Lal, Chief General Managers of various departments, other senior officers, representatives of Indian Institute of Metals, Bokaro Chapter and Indian Ceramics Society, steel industry and manufacturers of refractories and its users were present. In the inaugural session of the conference, Director-in-charge of BSL, Amarendu Prakash along with other SAIL directors were connected online and they all extended their best wishes for the successful conduct of the conference.
Addressing the participants of the conference, the chief guest Professor Rajeev Shekhar stressed on the various challenges faced in the refractory sector by doing in-depth research and solving them. He urged the refractory manufacturers to pay special attention to the import options of raw materials required for this sector so that the “Self-reliant India” and “Make in India” campaign could be strengthened. After the inaugural session technical sessions were organised during which technical articles were presented by the participants. It is noteworthy that more than 350 delegates including Tata Steel, JSW, Refractory manufacturers are participating in this conference organized in association with Indian Institute of Metals, Bokaro Chapter and Indian Ceramics Society and 40 technical papers will be presented. It is known that refractory material is used extensively in the steel industry. The use of low cost and high quality refractory bricks will also reduce the overall cost of steel production. The conference will continue on 24 September.