State-owned Steel Authority of India SAIL announced on Saturday the countrys largest blast furnace,which has been built at a cost of Rs 1,600 crore,has become operational at its Rourkela Steel Plant RSP.
With the start of the new state-of-the-art furnace,hot metal capacity at RSP will increase to 4.5 million tonnes per annum MTPA from its present capacity of 2 MTPA, SAIL said in a statement.
Durga,the largest blast furnace of the country,has become operational, the company said. Built at an approximate expenditure of Rs 1,600 crore,the furnace has a useful volume of 4,060 cubic metres.
SAIL chief CS Verma visited the plant today and inspected the facilities,according to the statement.
With a daily hot metal production of 8,000 tonnes per day,the furnace has a life of 20 years and is equipped with systems such as pulverised coal injection,among others,the statement said.