By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: The Union Minister for Steel and PNG Dharmendra Pradhan in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Monday said several steps taken by the Indian steel industry for introduction of digital and analytics in the steel making processes.Identification of the finished product till the end customer through introduction of Quick Response (QR) code based traceable tags where quality and genealogy can be tracked. Centralized Yard Management for all finished products to reduce rake retention time and improved identification and handling of the material with wireless Hand Held Terminal (HHT).
The Ministry of Steel has prepared a draft framework policy for development of steel clusters in the country. The draft framework policy for development of steel clusters is aimed at facilitating setting up of greenfield steel clusters along with development & expansion of existing steel clusters. The steel clusters shall not only help the country become Atma Nirbhar in value added Steel and capital goods but would also generate employment, especially in the Eastern part of the Country covering the States of Chhattishgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orisha and Andhra Pradesh as part of the “Purvodaya” initiative of the Ministry of Steel, Pradhan said.
Steel Ladle Management System to automatically track the steel ladle through various shops like Laddle Preparation Bay, Converter, secondary metallurgy, caster and back. It is used to monitor ladle circulation time and effective heat loss in empty ladle. This system facilitates regulating the steel bath tapping temperature at LD to get optimum casting temperature at caster using Level-1 and Level-2 automation, the Minister said.
SMS Grade Prediction System to predict Final (Tundish) Composition and Final Grade based on Converter Analysis and Ladle Furnace Additions using Machine Learning Algorithm. Optimisation of Coke, Pellet & Sinter quality to improve the yield & throughput of the Blast Furnaces. Modeling of iron making process inside a Blast Furnace to reduce coke consumption and further enhance the yield.
Optimisation of casting speed in the Continuous Casting process to arrive at the target properties at the lowest cost and time.Operation Research based models to optimize logistics cost and improving yield by efficient production planning doption of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (or Industry 4.0) technology in the steel sector for improving manufacturing processes, material usage, energy efficiency, plant & worker productivity, supply-chain and product life-cycle.
The Ministry of Steel scheme for “Promotion of Research & Development in Iron & Steel Sector” provides for grant of financial assistance to various institutions including CSIR laboratories and academic institutions for carrying out research in the iron & steel sector including environmental issues like utilisation of wastes, improvement in energy efficiency and reduction in GHG emission. Indian steel industry has also been taking measures to address the energy and environment issues in Steel plants through adoption of energy efficient and environment friendly technologies as part of technological up-gradation/ modernisation/expansion projects.
Stakeholder consultation with experts from the industry, research labs and academic institutions is integral part of the R&D Scheme of Ministry of Steel to utilise their domain knowledge while considering the R&D initiatives to address the technological challenges in the iron & steel sector.
Indian steel companies including the public sector steel companies have consistently enhanced their capacities, production and sales including exports over the years. Capacity for domestic crude steel production has been expanded from 109.85 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA) in 2014-15 to 142.29 MTPA in 2019-20 while crude steel production has gone up from 88.98 MTPA in 2014-15 to 109.14 MTPA in 2019-20. India was a net exporter of steel in 2019-20 and during the period of April-August, 2020, steel exports from India have increased by more than 153% in comparison to the same period in 2019-20.There are two Public Sector Steel Companies i.e. Steel Authority of India Ltd.(SAIL) and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd.(RINL), Pradhan said.
There are three training Institutes namely, National Institute of Secondary Steel Technology (NISST) (headquartered at Mandi Gobindgarh with regional centres at Kolkata and Nagpur); Institute for Steel Development and Growth (INSDAG) at Kolkata and Biju Patnaik National Steel Institute (BPNSI) at Puri for imparting technical training to manpower employed in secondary steel sector. Further, individual CPSEs under Ministry of Steel impart training to their employees and apprentices, the Minister added.
