Essar Steel Ltd on Thursday said it has successfully commissioned a Corex module, with a capacity of 0.87 MTPA, as part of its expansion programme for increasing steel production capacity from 4.6 MTPA to 10 MTPA at its Hazira complex in Surat district of Gujarat.
The overall expansion, including downstream facilities, at Hazira is being done at a cost of Rs 17,000 crore, a company official said.
It had earlier commissioned a blast furnace and a DRI module. With this, the iron making capacity has reached over 9.5 MTPA. A second Corex module of 0.87 MTPA is expected to be commissioned shortly.
With the Corex facility, the company has ensured significant lower investment costs and operating costs vis-à-vis blast furnace, better environmental compatibility, improved operational flexibility, i.e., production output and diversifying energy needs, as well as use of Corex export gas for many applications within the plant, according to a release.
Largest facility
Essar Steel's Hazira complex would be India's largest flat steel facility at any single location and amongst the ten largest facilities in the world. It is fully integrated and capable of producing the entire range of flat products. The total investment in Essar's Hazira steel complex has so far been Rs 30,000 crore.
Major facilities are expected to be commissioned by March 2012.
Essar Steel's total production capacity is 14 MTPA. It is a fully integrated flat carbon steel manufacturer with a presence in North America, Europe, Middle East and South East Asia, UK, UAE and Indonesia. It operates eight steel processing and distribution centres globally with a capacity of over 4.5 million tonnes a year . Essar has the largest retail channel through over 600 Essar Hypermarts.