Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (Visakhapatnam Steel Plant) on Thursday announced that Rs 5,000-crore worth of new units would come up in the plant here as a part of its expansion project.
The board gave its approval for the setting up of a seamless tube mill at an estimated cost of Rs 2,300 crore and installation of a new coke oven battery at an estimated cost of Rs 2,620 crore. The expansion project would increase the capacity to 6.3 mtpa (at a total cost of Rs 12,300 crore) from the present 3 million tonnes a year. The expansion project is nearing completion, according to a company release.
To enhance its product mix , the steel plant will set up the seamless tube mill of 4 lakh tonne a year capacity.
The plant will produce seamless tubes of 5.5” to 18” with a provision to produce even less than 5.5” tubes in the existing layout of the plant. The unique feature of the proposed plant is that it has the option to produce above 18” tubes by creating additional facilities in future.
Currently, only up to 14” tubes are being produced in the private sector. Once RINL completes its plan to produce 18” and above seamless tubes, it will become the only steel plant in the country to produce such high diameter tubes, according to Mr A. P. Choudhary, the CMD. The new mill will be completed in 30 months from the date of order placement.
Export opportunity
The proposed mill will cater to the needs of oil exploration & refining, natural gas, petro-chemicals, power sector, fertilisers as well as engineering industries. RINL may export the seamless tubes to Malaysia, Singapore, and S. Korea. The tube mill will be set up either through a joint venture or on its own.
Coke oven battery
In its journey to becoming a 20 mtpa plant by 2020, RINL will build a new coke oven batter (COB-5) along with a by-product plant and its associated facilities to meet its metallurgical coke needs. M.N Dastur & Co, the consultant, has prepared the project report.
The eco-friendly coke oven battery's height would be 7 metres , with 67 ovens each and a top charging battery. For the first time, the steel plant is installing a ‘Claus' plant for recovery of ‘elemental sulphur', which will help in maintaining the sulphur content in the effluents much below the stipulated norms.
The COB-5 is coming up as a standalone battery, comprising a by-product plant, coke dry quenching, coal and coke handling plant, and phenolic effluent treatment plant.
Mr Choudhary said that out of Rs 2,620 crore set aside for the COB 5, around Rs 500 crore would be spent on the environment management system.