Times of India reported that the Steel Melting Shop-I of Rourkela Steel Plant achieved a major milestone with registering a record steel ladle life of 100 heats on December 15th 2012.
With regular effort through research and development to improve ladle life of heats, which was as low as 40 heats during 2007-08, the plant has achieved the feat.
According to RSP sources, till the year 2007-08, the ladle life in the SMS I used to be around 40 heats. After the innovative introduction of full Mag Carbon lining, the average ladle life improved to as high as 50 heats in 2008-09. Since then, many improvements have been implemented in the areas of operation and refractory practice, which has resulted in achieving average life of 80 to 100 heats at present.
Sources said that the improvement in ladle life from 50 heats to 100 heats has resulted in a decrease in the specific consumption of refractories in SMS-I ladles from 12.99 kilogram per tonne of crude steel in 2007-08 to the present level of 8.56 kilogram per tonne.
Accordingly, specific cost has come down from INR 263.73 per tonne to INR 243.90 in spite of substantial increase in the price of refractories of late. On an average, as a result of this improvement, RSP will be saving around INR 7.2 lakh per month.
Source:
http://www.steelguru.com/indian_news/SAIL_RSP_achieves_ladle_life_of_record_100_heats/295995.html
