Rourkela: The Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) has registered a new record in steel ladle life in Steel Melting Shop-II department. The ladle life is not only highest in SAIL but also the best ever life achieved in India with magnesia carbon bricks.
The plant, a unit of Steel Authority of India Ltd.(SAIL), scripted this record by clocking the highest ever steel ladle life of 192 heats in a single campaign surpassing the earlier best of 191 heats achieved in May 2019. The steel ladle management set was supplied by M/s. Sino-Global Sourcing & Supply Ltd. The significant achievement was made possible because of the dedicated and coordinated efforts of Refractory Engineering (Services) and Steel Melting Shop-II (Operation).
Notably, the Steel Ladle was due for slag zone repair on 16th September 2019 at 152 life. After inspection of the steel ladle by refractory department it was observed that the metal zone condition of the ladle was in good shape and the metal zone left over thickness was found to be in excess of 130 millimeters. Considering the potential of the ladle, the team Refractory Engineering decided to continue the ladle in service with slag-zone repair. The ladle had a guaranteed life of 120 heats. Under the guidance of CGM(Refractory) Onkar Nath the refractory collective carried out the slag zone repairs and monitored the ladle with utmost care to achieve the record lining life of the steel ladle.
The endeavor ensured intangible benefits of enhanced ladle availability and improved productivity. The effort is one amongst many such initiatives being undertaken by the enterprising RSP collective to reduce cost of production and further improve techno-economics of the plant.
