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India: Nagarnar steel plant coke oven commissioning delayed

The NMDC-owned Naganar Integrated Steel Plant (NISP) will not be able to commission its first coke oven ahead of Diwali because the temperature of the same has not yet re...

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17 Oct 2022, 18:41 IST
India: Nagarnar steel plant coke oven commissioning delayed

The NMDC-owned Naganar Integrated Steel Plant (NISP) will not be able to commission its first coke oven ahead of Diwali because the temperature of the same has not yet reached its targeted 1,150 degree centigrade, SteelMint learnt from reliable sources.

The technical experts from Ukranian companies GPK and CUI in charge of commissioning the first coke oven (COB#1) have said the minimum temperature required for charging it is 1,100 degree centigrade which has not yet been reached. It is currently hovering around 1,060 degree centigrade. Therefore, they have raised a red flag for delaying commissioning of COB#1.

It may be recalled, NMDC had come a step closer to its commissioning by giving approval for raising the battery temperature from 16 September, 2022.

"The commissioning has been pushed back to post-Diwali. Possibly 25-26 October, but everything is tentative at present," a source informed SteelMint.

Blast furnace blow-in delayed
Obviously, this delay is pushing back the blast furnace commissioning as well. The plant needs to run the coke oven plant for a month or two to make it reach its full capacity. Once the coal is put in the oven, the coke oven gas that will emerge, will need to go to a byproduct plant where it will get cleaned and return to the oven as fuel in a cyclic process.

"Only post-the coke oven plant commissioning, can there be clarity on the BF commissioning," said a source.

As per an inter-ministerial group meeting held last month, the revised date for commissioning of NISP has been set at around March 2023. As per a timeline in possession of SteelMint, the blast furnace blow-in was slated for June-July 2022.

The roll-out of the first hot rolled coil is likely in March 2023 against the earlier slated timeline of July 2022.

Demerger nod
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) approved the demerger of NMDC Steel from NMDC Ltd, the state-owned iron-ore miner.

The 3-mntpa NISP, located at Nagarnar in Chhattisgarh, is being built at an investment of INR 20,000 crore. Assets worth INR 18,650 crore and liabilities worth INR 1,602 crore will be demerged to NMDC Steel. The Centre's stake in NMDC and the now demerged steel unit stands at 60.79%.

 

17 Oct 2022, 18:41 IST

 

 

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