RSP blast furnace repaired in a record time

Bhubaneswar, May 15 (UNI) Saraswati, the Blast Furnace-3 of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), lighted up today after major capital repair, will have a Cast House now with rocking runner in a single track, the first of its kind in the steel industry.

The cast house runner layout and iron side platforms had also been modified during the repair undertaken in a record time of 74 days and will significantly reduce the workload at the cast house and improve housekeeping.

RSP sources said special attention had been given to make the furnace cooling system more effective in order to improve the bosh cooling including the cooling of lower stack area to prevent damages.

Some other new features for performance enhancement were also introduced during the repair, which included digital weighing system, DC electromagnet service brake system, upgradation in the PLC system and introduction of mixed charging system .

With the recommissioning of Blast Furnace-3, the RSP collective will now be in a position to increase the hot metal production from the blast furnace shops to about 7000 ton per day.

This enhanced production of hot metal will also increase the availability of feedstock for the downstream units, like Steel melting shops and finishing mills which produce high value finished products.

RSP sources said after running a campaign life of ten years the furnace was shut down on March one for massive repair, relining and modernisation job.The Blast Furnace 3 which lasted from September 1997 to March 2007 had produced 3.75 million ton breaking its previous record of 3.11 million ton.

UNI