India: SteelMint to evolve medium-term R&D roadmap for sustainable development

Beneficiation of iron ore and agglomeration, beneficiation of coal, Carbon Capture and Utilisation, utilisation of steel industry wastes such as steel slag, decarbonisation technologies, use of bio-char to substitute coke/coal in some areas of iron and steel making were some of the thrust areas identified during a brainstorming session held today in the Ministry of Steel.

The session was chaired by Secretary, Steel, N. N Sinha, to evolve a comprehensive medium-term R&D roadmap and action plan for the iron and steel sector for the next 10 years.

Stakeholders from the steel industry, academia, research laboratories, design and engineering companies and also from other concerned Ministries/ Departments viz. DST, DSIR, DRDO etc actively participated in the meeting.

The meeting began with the discussions on the needs of R&D initiatives which can be taken up on a common platform for the long-term sustainable development of the Indian steel sector.

R&D to address challenges and issues specific to the secondary steel sector were also discussed.

Discussions were held to identify ways and means for strengthening industry, research labs and academia interface for carrying out coordinated and collaborative research to address the R&D needs of the steel sector.

Thereafter, discussions were held on the way and means to ensure that the IPs generated through R&D are available for the entire sector in India and how the IPs generated can be translated into development of actual processes and also development and production of machineries and plants required for the processes.

The requirement and sources of R&D funds and institutional development needed for undertaking such research efforts were also discussed.

Various Integrated Steel Plants and steel CPSEs came forward to share their facilities for collaborative use by the entire sector. The running theme for the entire discussion was to apply scarce national R&D resources to the best possible use for rapidly addressing national priorities as also assume technological leadership in various areas of iron and steel making.

The discussions were moderated by Dr Indranil Chattoraj, ex-Director, National Metallurgical Laboratory (CSIR-NML) Jamshedpur and Ruchika Chaudhary Govil, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Steel.

Way forward

Going forward, detailed inputs will be sought from the stakeholders for formulating the roadmap/ R&D programmes to be carried out on priority basis.

Based on the identified R&D programmes and their cost thereof, Ministry of Steel will identify/ facilitate the sources of funding as well as the ecosystem required for pursuing the initiatives.