Rourkela Steel Plant Mulls Capacity Expansion

The Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) is planning to increase its annual hot metal production capacity from the current level of 4.5 to 4.855 million tonne per annum (MTPA), an official release said.

The crude steel production at its plant in Odisha’s Sundargarh district will also go up from 4.2 MTPA to 4.85 MTPA and saleable steel production from 3.880 to 4.325 MTPA, the release issued on Saturday said.

The new units that have been planned as part of the project are a coke oven battery, a steel melting shop, oxygen plant and adoption of technological measures for enhancing capacity of the existing blast furnaces, it said.

A proposed normalising furnace with 0.3 MTPA capacity will also be installed inside the new plate mill to cater to niche market segments.

The RSP is planning to utilise natural gas in various units and it has planned a pipeline network, which will minimize the use of fossil fuels like coal and make the steel-making process cleaner and greener.

The proposed projects, which will be taken up within the existing boundary of the RSP, are designed with state-of-the-art environment-friendly technologies based on the concept of zero discharge.

Different types of air pollution control systems will be installed to minimise the air pollution and no cutting of trees will be required.

The proposed expansion will not only enhance the production capacity of the steel plant but will also further strengthen the economy of the region and improve the quality of life of people residing in and around Rourkela.

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