Efficient Use Of Lower Quality Input Materials - An Urgent Need In Indian Steel Plants

Iron ore and coal together account for about 72% of cost of input materials in Indian steel plants. Moreover, sourcing iron ore and coal for steel plants is posing multitude of challenges including availability, quality and logistics. At present it is found that high quality input materials are hard to reach and easy to reach ones are of lower quality. Hence efficient utilisation of lower quality input materials has assumed greater significance for the sustainability of the steel plants. Accordingly the focus should be on beneficiation and agglomeration of lower quality input materials and development & application of new technologies for efficient use of the same in the steel plants. It also requires a paradigm shift from adopting technology dependent primarily on high quality input materials to introducing and absorbing alternate and mixed routes of production, which can efficiently utilise lower quality input materials.