Tata Steel expands steel capacity in Odisha

Indian steelmaker Tata Steel has announced that it has commissioned the country’s largest blast furnace in Kalinganagar (Odisha) as part of the second phase of its expansion. This is stated in the message of the company.

Tata Steel has invested a total of Rs 27 million ($3.23 billion) in the second phase of expansion in Odisha, which will increase the total capacity of the steel mill from 3 million tons of steel per year to 8 million tons per year.

“The new blast furnace will significantly increase the plant’s overall production capacity, enabling Tata Steel to meet the growing needs of various industries, including automotive, infrastructure, power, shipbuilding and defense. It will also provide advantages in specific industries such as oil and gas, material handling equipment and construction,” the steelmaker said.

The new 5,870 cubic meter unit is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment for long service life and an environmentally friendly design to optimize the steelmaking process.

In particular, this blast furnace will be the first in India to have four top-burning furnaces. For the first time, Tata Steel has installed a dry gas cleaning unit to maximize energy recovery from off-gas. In addition, for the first time, an evaporative cooling system will be used in an Indian blast furnace, which will optimize the space occupied and reduce specific water and electricity consumption by about 20% compared to traditional designs.

The key facilities of the second phase of expansion in Kalinganagar are also a pelletizing plant, a coke plant and a cold rolling mill.

As GMK Center reported earlier, Tata Steel increased its consolidated steel production by 12.6% – to 7.96 million tonnes in April-June 2024 (Q1 of FY2024/2025) compared to the same period in 2023.