Bhilai Steel Plant’s Blast Furnace 8 crosses 8 MT milestone

Central Chronicle News
Bhilai, Sep 29: An air of celebration prevailed in the control room of SAIL-Bhilai Steel Plant’s largest blast furnace – BF 8, named Mahamaya as the ceremonial cake was cut to mark BF 8 crossing the milestone of 8 Million Tonnes (MT) cumulative hot metal production since the first tapping of hot metal from the furnace took place on February 03, 2018.
Members of the Blast Furnace Dept collective of the Plant and Team members of BF 8 had gathered in BF 8 on September 28, 2021 to celebrate crossing the 8 MT cumulative production milestone. The 8 MT milestone was crossed by BF 8 during C Shift on September 26, 2021.
By crossing the 8 MT milestone in 1333 days, Bhilai’s BF 8 has become the fastest among furnaces of similar capacity in SAIL to do so. Rourkela Steel Plant’s furnace of similar capacity took 5.5 months, and IISCO Steel Plant’s furnace of similar capacity took 9.5 months to cross 8 MT milestone in cumulative production.
Addressing the gathering in BF 8 Conference Hall, Director I/c Bhilai Steel Plant Anirban Dasgupta congratulated the members of Mahamaya Team and all supporting shops & departments for the milestone achievement. He urged the BF collective to benchmark their performances with that of some private steel plants.
The need of the hour is to tighten our belts, increase PCI and increase furnace efficiency, he said. The young and knowledgeable team of BF 8 should dive deeper into literature about the latest technologies. You take care of the furnace and the furnace will take care of you, he added.
A ceremonial cake was cut in BF 8 control room in presence of VS Parashar, Ex-Chief Superintendent, Blast Furnaces, Dr SK Issar, ED (M & HS), Rakesh, ED (Materials Mgt), Anjani Kumar, ED (Works), AK Panda, CGM I/c (F & A), SN Abidi, CGM I/c Services, Arvind Kumar, CGM I/c M & U, Tapas Dasgupta, CGM (Blast Furnaces), RR Nagare, ex-CGM, CGMs and other senior officers from various departments to celebrate the occasion.
Anjani Kumar, ED (Works) stated that you are the best team of Blast Furnaces. Make all efforts to do even better, he said. Earlier, welcoming senior officers and all others present, Tapas Dasgupta, CGM (Blast Furnaces) said our journey towards excellence shall continue.
He thanked all supporting shops, departments and agencies for their support. Members of the BF collective and ED (Works) Anjani Kumar donated blood on September 27, 2021 to mark the 8 MT cumulative production.
VS Parashar, Ex-Chief Superintendent, Blast Furnace who served BSP from 1962 – 1994 was the Special Guest on the occasion. He recalled the mode of functioning during his tenure and stated that he is proud to be one of the members to operate the first Bell less top furnace in the country. Showering his blessings on the BF collective to create more records in the future, he said you all have made me feel proud by achieving such great production milestones, he said.
It is worth mentioning that earlier, BF 8 had become the fastest in SAIL to have crossed the previous cumulative production milestones. After the blowing in of BF 8 on February 02, 2018, the first hot metal flowed out from the from the 2.8 MTPA Blast Furnace 8 on February 04, 2018. The graph of daily production from modern furnace with advanced automation & control systems had risen steadily since then.
The furnace that has a maximum book capacity of 8400 T/day recorded its highest production of 9150 T on 19th Sept 2020. BF 8 has also recorded highest Coal Dust Injection rate in SAIL of 182 kg per tonne of hot metal. The programme was compered by Anuradha Saha, Personnel Officer, Blast Furnaces. Vote of thanks was proposed by Vikas Nashine, DSO, Blast Furnaces.