The straight grate pellet plant will be
installed at JSW Steel Ltd’s Vijayanagar steelworks which will be supplied by
Metso.
Finnish industrial machinery company Metso has
bagged an eyebrow-raising order to deliver a straight grate pellet plant for
JSW Steel Ltd’s Vijayanagar steelworks – the world’s sixth largest steel plant
with one of the most efficient conversion costs globally.
The 8 MnT pellet plant includes grinding,
filtration and a pyro-processing plant and is tailor-made for large-scale
operations. The new order is Metso’s largest global pellet plant delivery, and
the single largest installation for Metso 2040-60 Vertical Plate Pressure
Filters VPA, which are used in heavy-duty dewatering applications.
With an eye on increasing its crude steel
production capacity to an ambitious 40 MnT by 2025 from the present 18MnT, JSW
is looking to increase its pellet feed in iron making by up to 60%.
Presently the steel behemoth operates pellet
plants with a combined capacity of 13 MnT – 9 MnT in Vijayanagar and 4 MnT in
Dolvi. Metso’s pellet plant, scheduled to be installed at the 10,000-acre
Vijayanagar plant next year, would undoubtedly bolster JSW’s declared objective
of achieving 50 MnT pellet producing capacity in the not-too-distant future.
Moreover, JSW Techno Projects Management Ltd, a
JSW Group firm, had signed definitive agreements to acquire a 49 per cent equity
stake in Brahmani River Pellets Ltd, which operates a 4 MnT pellet plant at
Jajpur in Odisha.
Explaining the need to cut down on sintering
and prioritizing pellets as BF feed, a senior official at JSW Steel, told
SteelMint: “Indian iron ore is characteristically rich in alumina, which makes
sintering extremely difficult. Moreover, sintering inevitably increases a
steelmaker’s carbon footprint. We are, therefore, seeking to focus exclusively
on pellets as BF feed.”
The quality of hot metal produced is also a
crucial consideration. “The goal is to reduce the slag in the hot metal and
thereby boost productivity. This objective is fulfilled by increasing the
pellet feed,” he clarified.
India has an installed pellet capacity of
around 85 MnT and production of about 60 MnT.