STEEL & METALLURGY :: Abstract for April 2008 Issue

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Bridging The Wire Rope Industry - Usha Martin
By Nirmalya Mukherjee & Kaushik Banerjee

ABSTRACT
For one driving on Kolkata’s land-mark Vidyasagar Setu, there is a sense of being dwarfed by the structure that is supported by nothing else but gigantic wire ropes mounted on pylons 135m high. The bridge has stood there since 1992 and the company which executed it with it’s wire rope product- Usha Martin Limited (UML)-a Kolkata based company is now aiming for the world market.
Usha Martin is an India based company that manufactures and markets steel wire rods and wire rope products. Its product line includes steel wires, strands, cords, bright bars, wire ropes, steel wire rods, rolled products, billets, pig iron and allied products. It manufactures specialty steel long products for the automobile, general engineering, fastener, railways, defense and power industries. It is headquartered in Kolkata, India.
The company recorded revenues of INR19,816.5 million (approximately $439.1 million) during the fiscal year ended March 2007. The net profit was INR1,374.4 million (approximately $30.5 million) in fiscal year 2007.

Mr. Marc SOLVI
By Nirmalya Mukherjee & Kaushik Banerjee

ABSTRACT
Mr. Marc SOLVI was born on 1st April 1952 and after completing his Primary School in Differdange he joined the Secondary School in 1964 and after passing out continued his higher studies in University of Liege in Belgium from where he completed his M.Sc. ULg in Metallurgy in the year 1976. Since then he has groomed himself as one of the finest Application Engineers of Blast Furnace Technology and rose to the position of CEO on 1st January 1998. Mr. Solvi has, thus, carried himself in Paul Wurth for more than 32 years sailing through various positions including project management, engineering and general management. It was his endeavor which witnessed the growth of Paul Wurth India as a pioneer Blast Furnace Technology provider in India. Paul Wurth India was incorporated in 1993 as the first Asian subsidiary of Paul Wurth Group and was established purely through an entrepreneurial decision of an Indo-Luxembourg venture. Mr. Marc Solvi has transformed Paul Wurth India into one of the most significant Group subsidiaries not only in Asia but on a global scale. As one of finest Application Engineers in Blast Furnace Technology and Ironmaking worldwide, he recalls the growth of Paul Wurth during the last 100 years in an inclusive interview with our Editor Mr. Nirmalya Mukherjee.

Iron Ore : A Potential Raw Material for Iron and Steel
By Dr. A.L. Kundu, Technology Co-ordinator, Mitra S.K. Private Ltd.

ABSTRACT
Iron ore is the most important basic raw material that is required for making iron and steel which provides foundation for industrial development of a nation. It is an abundantly available mineral in the world. India is endowed with huge reserves of a good quality iron ore with the requisite specification for iron steel industry. Presently, India mines around 150 million tonnes of iron ore per annum out of which 80 million tonnes are exported and balance is utilised indigenously to produce about 50 million tonnes of steel per annum. Chemical and physical properties of iron ore are key factors of iron ore trade and serve as important indices for blast furnace iron making and DR operations. Strength, size consistency and metallurgical properties (reducibility or reactivity) and RDI also play vital role in determining blast furnace/DR furnaces productivity and quality of the product.
Indian iron ore occur in two forms: Hematite and magnetite. Both has inherent problems with respect to quality which needs to be solved.
It is projected that India is aiming to produce crude steel in the level of 180-200 mtpa by 2020 as per latest national steel policy (steel ministry is working in it), iron ore mining and exploration need to be augmented. For increasing the mining activity of iron ore, selective and manual mining activities must be stopped and resorted to scientific mining. In order to ensure longer period of ore availability, India should also work out strategies for using low grade ores after beneficiation and explore the techno-economic possibility of using magnetite ores.
The present paper deals with some characterisation of iron ores of different sources, their chemical and physical properties. A suggestion and various schemes which have been worked out are also presented and explained how to utilise low grade hematite and magnetite ores through Jigs, Whims, etc.

Meeting Coking And Non-Coking Coal Requirements For Sponge Iron And Steel Industry In India
By Mr. Partha S. Bhattacharya Chairman, Coal India Limited

ABSTRACT
Coal plays a very important role in Indian as well as global energy scenario. Of all fossil fuels, coal is by far the most abundantly found fuel on the face of the earth. This is especially true for India where abundant coal reserves make it the only viable energy option in the long run. More than 60% of the electricity generated in the country is from combustion of coal. In view of coal being most financially viable option for thermal power generation at various locations in the country and renewable energy not expected to play any significant role in near future, coal will remain the mainstay of India’s energy sector.

Meeting Raw Material Requirements to achieve 200 MT of Steel Production in India by 2020
By Raghavendra Gupta General Manager (Planning), SAIL - RMD

ABSTRACT
With a capacity of over 14 M.Te of crude steel, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is India’s largest and one of the leading steel producers in the world. SAIL owns and operates 5 integrated steel plants BSP at Bhilai, DSP at Durgapur, RSP at Rourkela, BSL at Bokaro & ISP at Burnpur and 3 alloy steel plants at Salem, Durgapur & Bhadravati making stainless and alloy steels.
With extensively developed facilities for mining and processing all major raw materials required for iron making like Iron ore, Limestone, Dolomite and Coking coal and excavating more than 30 mtpa of ROM, SAIL is the second largest mining organization in the country after Coal India Limited. While 100% requirement of iron ore (about 25 mtpa of ROM) is met through captive source, fluxes are partially purchased from domestic market. Major requirement of coal is procured from global/ domestic market.

Multi-site Sales and Operation Planning at BlueScope Steel, Australia
By Ricardo Zacchi Supply Chain consultant, Simone Parrini Supply Chain consultant
Michael Defeyter Supply Chain consultant, AIS Advanced Information Systems Belgium S.A.
Armen Baghdasarayan Project Manager Scott Gardiner Supply Chain specialist Blue Scope Steel, Australia

ABSTRACT
BlueScope Steel (BSL) is finalizing the implementation of an integrated Supply Chain Management system in collaboration with Advanced Information Systems (AIS). The solution includes multi-site sales planning, operation planning, master scheduling, unit scheduling and material allocation. In this paper, we describe in detail the multi-site sales and operations planning.
This part of the project considers inter-connected production plants, with several production units within each plant, production and stock holding cost per product and per unit, inter-site alternative production steps, inter-site transport costs, monthly time buckets and an order book that includes real and forecasted orders each with associated sales revenue covering 2 years time horizon.

NON – COKING COAL FROM SOUTH EASTERN COALFIELDS LTD, PROSPECTS FOR INDIAN STEEL INDUSTRY
By B.K. Sinha, CMD, SECL & M.L. Gupta, CGM (S & R)

ABSTRACT
According to the latest Global prognosis, demand for steel will grow by up to 25% by the year 2015, mainly due to rapid economic developments in the highly populated Asian Countries. In addition to transport and logistics, raw materials and energy are the global driving forces behind the market’s dynamics. The supply of coal, coke and scrap will struggle to keep pace with the growth of the steel industry and procurement cost are in rising trend as a result. Energy cost will also continue to increase.
Hot Steel is a product of transformation of ore with high energy conversions by Coke in the Blast furnaces. Coking Coal is the principal source for formation of coke. Metallurgical use of coal is largely governed by quality and quantity of coking coal. Continuing technologies of metallurgy of steel making envisages requirements of low ash coking coal which is a scarce resource, confining to a small segment of Indian Coal Industry. Economy associated with mining of low ash coking coal and reducing ash content with subsequent beneficiation, seldom keeps pace with economy of steel making. This has necessitated, the Indian Iron & Steel Industry to avail the option of import of low ash coal. Imported coal has its own limitations in terms quantity, in land transportations and subsequent economy.

Thailand Steel Industry in 2007 – What’s next?
By our special correspondent

ABSTRACT
After recording an all time high in apparent steel consumption of 14.1 million tonnes in 2005, Thailand’s steel industry has been on a downward trend largely due to political uncertainties as well as the problem in the southern part of Thailand. Steel consumption in the country dropped by 5% to 13.4 million tonnes in 2006. This negative trend has continued into 2007, resulting in a further contraction of apparent steel consumption at -6% y-o-y to 12.6 million tonnes.