February 21, 2012: The erection activity of the new blast furnace 8 for Steel Authority of India Ltd's (SAIL's) Bhilai Steel Plant has begun.

The new blast furnace being installed by SAIL in Bhilai as part of the Plant's 7 million tons (mt) modernisation and expansion programme will be the biggest blast furnace in Bhilai Steel Plant having useful volume of 4060 m3 and capacity of producing 8030 tons of hot metal per day and 2.8 million tons per annum, the company said in a statement.

BF 8 has such modern design and state-of-the-art environment-friendly and energy-efficient technology as Top Recovery Turbine, Waste Heat Recovery system and other energy-efficient and pollution control equipment. The contract for installation of BF 8 had been awarded to a consortium of M/s. Paul Wurth, Italia (PWIT), M/s. Paul Wurth, India (PWIN) & M/s L&T.

The furnace shell will be of 45 metre height and shall consist of 23 special steel rings (made of Material Grade Q 345) of thickness varying from 40 to 120 mm. Material for the Shell up to 5th ring has been supplied by M/s. Paul Wurth, Italia. Internal diameter of ring is 16.65 metres and total weight of the shell will be around 700 tons.

The BF shell erection will be followed by erection of coolers and refractories to make it ready for the production of hot metal. A Demag Crane of 600 tons capacity has been deployed at site for the work of shell erection.

Source: ISMW