Steel Authority of India (SAIL) on Saturday said the country's largest blast furnace 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. The environment-friendly furnace ensures minimum emissions and recovers waste energy to the fullest. It also has a closed-loop cooling system,resulting in almost zero water discharge,it added.
