SAIL Eyes Building New Iron Making Process

Indian state owned steel maker, Steel Authority of India (SAIL) studies to introduce new iron making process including Kobe Steel’s ITmk3 and POSCO’s FINEX as a part of the raw steel output capacity expansion to 26 million tonnes in 2012 and 40 million tonnes in 2020. The firm tries to utilize the cost competitive process to make high grade iron source due to the lower construction cost along with lower carbon dioxide emission. The firm also expects thermal coal use process to improve the stability of coking coal procurement.

SAIL will use iron ore from own domestic mine while the captive coal mine has limited output capacity. The firm already produces annual 14 million tonnes of steel at traditional blast furnace based process and imports annual 10 million tonnes of coking coal mainly from Australia. The firm expects the thermal coal using process contributes to the raw materials strategy.

SAIL entered into strategic alliance with POSCO in August 2007. They exchange the human resources and information on mining, cost saving and products mix. SAIL expects POSCO’s FINEX technology would improve the competitiveness while the alliance is still limited in such information exchange.

Kobe Steel started the commercial operation of the first commercial based ITmk3 plant in USA in January. The firm already started the marketing of ITmk3 in India and Southeast Asia.

Under worldwide tight supply of coking coal, many Indian steel makers could introduce the new iron making processes when the makers have to import coking coal while they can use rich domestic iron ore.

ITmk3 is to make iron nugget from pellet made by fine iron ore and fine coal through the reducing, melting and removing slag process at the rotary hearth furnace only in 10 minutes while traditional blast furnace takes around 8 hour to reducing. Kobe Steel calls it as third iron making process after blast furnace and natural gas based direct reducing iron process. FINEX is to reduce fine iron ore and thermal coal in the process. Both processes need no sinter plant and coke oven, which can reduce the initial cost for iron making process.