Pig
Iron Industry In India - An Overview
Pig Iron Industry
In India - An Overview -
By Sanjay Sengupta (MAY 2001)
Pig Iron is mainly catagorised into two major types:a) 'Basic Grade'
iron used for steel making and b) ‘Foundry Grade’ iron for making iron
castings which find applications in industrial and other sectors. In
the developed countries pig iron is also used as a scrap substitute
in the charge - mix of Electric Arc Furnaces (EAFs). The world production
of foundry grade pig iron in 1996 was about 29.3 million tonnes which
increased marginally to 29.6 million tonnes in 1997 and then came down
to 26.5 million tonnes in 1998. The level of global production of foundry
grade pig iron in 1999 has been estimated at about 27.5 millino tonnes.
Global production and consumption
The global production and apparent consumption of pig iron (basic plus
foundry grade) between 1994 and 1999 were as follows:
| (Million tonnes) |
| Year |
Production |
App.Consumption |
| 1994 |
513.5 |
514.2 |
| 1995 |
529.5 |
530.0 |
| 1996 |
532.9 |
531.5 |
| 1997 |
545.7 |
545.2 |
| 1998 |
537.7 |
535.1 |
| 1999(E) |
541.0 |
534.2 |
| (E) Estimate source IISI, Brussels. |
The global production of pig iron during January to August 2000 was
about 381 metric tonnes recording a growth 8 percent over 352.7 million
tonnes during the same period of 1999. The expected world production
in 2000 is about 560 metric tonnes.
Production and consumption
in India
The production and consumption of pig iron in India between 1995-96
and 2000-01 (estimated) are furnished in Table -1
| (Million tonnes) |
| Year |
Production |
App.Consumption |
| 1995 - 1996 |
2,795 |
2,300 |
| 1996-1997 |
3,290 |
2,854 |
| 1997-1998 |
3,396 |
2,949 |
| 1998-1999 |
2,998 |
2,773 |
| 1999 -2000 |
3,181 |
3,028 |
| 2000-2001(E) |
3,100 |
2,950 |
| Data Source : J.P.C (E) Estimated
, based on DCIS figures upto Feb.,2001 |
Out of the production shown in Table -1 , the output of foundry grade
pig iron in India from 1995-96 were as follows.
| |
(‘000 tonnes) |
| Year Production |
FDY Grade |
| 1995-96 |
1,060 |
| 1996-97 |
1,557 |
| 1997-98 |
1,687 |
| 1998-99 |
1,644 |
| 1999-2000 (E) |
1,610 |
| E = Estimated |
|
Demand and apparent consumption of Pig Iron in India
The revised estimated demand and apparent consumption figures for pig
iron in India are presented in Table-2
|
Table -2 Revised Estimated Demand And Apparent
Consumption of Pig Iron In India (‘000 tonnes)
|
| Year |
Demand |
Appreant Consumption(AC) |
%of A/c To Demand |
| 1996-97 |
2,400 |
2,762 |
115.1 |
| 1997-98 |
2,900 |
2,550 |
87.9 |
| 1998-99 |
2,800 |
2,773 |
99.0 |
| 1999-2000 |
2,600 |
3,004 |
115.5 |
| 2000-01 |
3,200 |
2,438 |
76.0 |
| (Upto Jany’01) Data Souurce :JPC |
The apparent consumption of pig iron in the first ten months of 2000-01
was lower by about 6 percent as compared to the same in the corresponding
period of the previous year.
Import and export of pig Iron
The import and export figures for pig iron by India between 1992-93
and 1999-2000 are shown in table -3
Table -3 : Import & Exports of Pig Iron By India: 1992-93 To 1999-2000
(‘000 tonnes) Year Imports Exports Exports as% of production 1992-93
73 16 0.86 1993-94 21 620 27.55 1994-95 1 466 16.73 1995-96 8 503 17.50
1996-97 15 451 13.65 1997-98 3 785 23.13 1998-99 2 276 9.21 1999-2000
3 290 9.35 Data Source : JPC Between April ,2000 to January 2001, there
was no import of pig iron by India while export reached a level of 168,000
tonnes. The percentage of exports to production during the above period
was 6.4 . One of the major reasons for the decline in pig iron exports
may be de attributed to the downtrend in global prices. Towards the
end of 1997 price per tonne of pig iron in the world market was us$
150 which nose-dived to us$ 90 in late 1998 and later increased to US$
125 in the second quarter of 2000. The prices again came down th a low
of US$ 79 per tonne in December, 2000 . However, according to a projection
of World Steel Dynamics, the global prices of pig iron in the third
quarter of 2001 may go up to US$ 115 per tonne. Exports of castings
India’s exports of castings has shown remarkable growth in recent years.
Exports in value terms in 1992-93 was about Rs. 230 crore , showed a
growth of 117.4 percent reaching about Rs 500 core in 1997-98 with an
average yearly growth of 23.5 percent. The export earnings in the next
two years was almost at the same level. Estimated demand pattern There
are about 6,000 foundries all over the country, 90 per cent of which
are in the small sector. The installed capacity of the Indian foundries
is over 4 million tonnes but the production is about 3 million tonnes
per year. The capacity utilisation of the pig iron units during April
2000 to January, 2001 was over 75 per cent. The estimated demand of
the foundries are presented below sectorwise: Estimated Demand of castings
in India (‘000 tonnes) Sectors Demand Defence 50 Spun Pipes 200 Exports
300 Steel Plants 500 Railways 300 Post & Telephones 150 Construction
& Sanitation 820 Automobile 300 Engg., Govt Dept. & others 380 Total
3,000 Statewise consumption of Pig Iron The statewise consumption of
Pig Iron in India for the years 1997-98, 1998-99 and 1999-2000 are furnished
below in table -4 Table 4 Statewise Consumption of Pig Iron in India:
1997-98 to 1999-2000 State Consumption of Pig Iron 1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000
Andhra Pradesh 35 108 119 Assam (incl. N.E States) 2 6 6 Bihar 130 132
157 Delhi 58 52 54 Gujrat 407 220 260 Haryana 72 70 83 Jammu & Kashmir
1 1 1 Karnataka 32 120 125 Kerala 8 8 8 Madhya Pradesh 43 75 78 Maharashtra
(inc. Goa) 136 328 350 Orissa 89 98 102 Punjab/Chandigarh(incl. HP)
498 482 520 Rajasthan 26 30 31 Tamilnadu 245 295 316 Uttar Pradesh 183
280 300 West Bengal 585 458 494 TOTAL 2,550 2,773 3,004 Source : ‘Steel
Scenario’ Statistical Year Books with marginal adjustments by the author
Mini Blast Furnaces - Technology In the post liberalisation era Mini
Blast Furnaces (MBFs) have become a boon for the production of foundry
grade pig iron. Tata Korf is the leader in supplying MBFs of sizes 175,215.
300 and 350 cu.m working volume. These are capable of producing between
75,000 to 200,000 tpy of foundry grade pig iron with 100 per cent lump
with sulphur content usually at 0.04 per cent and phosphorus, which
depends on inputs, can be kept below 0.1 per cent with imported coke
and most of Indian iron ores. The cold blast generated at required pressure
through a set of six centrifugal fans coupled in series is heated to
a hot blast temprature of 900oc by metallic recuperators. Up to 250
cu.m MBF, extensive operating data obtained revealed that with imported
coke and Indian Ore, two fundamental process parameters have been confirmed:
(a) blast pressure in excess of 1.0 bar is never encountered and (b)
the hot blast accepted by the MBF in absence of any additive does not
exceed 750oc. The life of these recuperator tubes is about 10 years
after which the first row of tubes need replacement. For MBFs of sizes
above 300 cu.m, conventional hot blast stove and turbo blowers are offered.
The cooling of MBF shell is done by water spraying. High grade 62 per
cent Al2, O3 bricks in stacks are employed to assure campaign life of
4/5 years. The MBF has a top pressure of about 0.3 kg / cm2 which is
just enough to ensure a thorough gas cleaning by a double venture scrubber
system which ensures a solid content of 5mg/Nm3 in the clean gas with
low sulphur content. The cast house facilities include hydraulically
operated mud gun and pneumatically operated taphole drilling machine
to achieve frequency of casts up to 12 per day. The Korf MBF technology
ensures high productivity and low fuel rates. A productivity of 1.6
t/cum/ day with 100 per cent lump ore together with a coke rate of 525
kg /thm for foundry grade iron can be achieved in MBFs of 175-200 cum.
About 50 per cent of the top gas generated is used for heating the cold
blast while the rest of the gas can be used to generate power via a
boiler and turbo generator which is enough to make the MBF independent
of SEB supply grid. In Korf MBFs facilities are also provided to dry
iron ore and coke by utilising the hot flue gas from metallic blast
preheater. The flue gas at 400oC, is capable of removing up to 5 per
cent moisture which in turn facilitates better fines removal during
screening and results in direct coke saving in the MBF. The MBF is an
environment friendly unit with very efficient gas cleaning, effluent
treatment and pollution control facilities. MBFs have several features
which are known for their simplicity and their economy and has become
very popular with the Indian producers of foundry grade pig iron. Mini
Blast Industry in India After the launching of economic reforms in India
by the Central Government in 1991, the government encouraged the setting
up of MBFs. This was done mainly to free the integrated steel plants
of their social responsibility of producing pig iron so that they can
give thrust on the production of value-added production for generation
of higher profits and facing competition. Around 1992, production of
pig iron in merchant units in the secondary sector got a boost. Since
then, the growth of the MBF sector witnessed an accelerated growth and
soon foundry grade pig iron became a preferred material to all the producers
of merchant pig iron foundries who were conscious of quality upgradation.
The MBF sector in India has a total investment of over Rs 40 billion
and employs a direct workforce of over 33,000. The design of the MBFs
as also the stringent quality requirement of the end-users make the
low ash metallurgical coke an essential raw material for ensuring optimum
operation. The MBFs mainly produce foundry grade pig iron, which is
the key input for sophisticated technological applications in the automotive,
capital goods and other engineering or foundry industries. The Government
has withdrawn the anti-dumping duty from 2000-01 on imported metallurgical
coke, a basic raw material for production of pig iron. This has come
as a boon for the foundry industry. Application of foundry industry
products The foundry industry manufactures a wide range of multi purpose
castings. Ferrous casting units make castings in grey iron, malleable
iron, ductile iron etc. Grey cast iron foundries make cast iron sleeper
plates, brake blocks for railways, bottom plates of ingot moulds, fan
stands, sanitary castings and castings like manhole covers etc. Malleable
castings are primarily used in automobiles, railways and other industrial
components. SG castings are used as construction materials and primarily
used in the automobile industry and in railways. Merchant Pig Iron units
in secondary sector According to the data published by DCI&S, there
were 14 merchant Pig Iron units working in February 2001 with an annual
capacity of 2.86 million tonnes. These units produced about 1.98 million
tonnes in the last fiscal upto February,2001 with a pro-rata capacity
utilisation of 75.5 per cent. The details of these units are shown in
Table-5 Many of the above units have adopted pollution control measures
which are tabulated below:
Pollution Control Measures Adopted by Merchant Units
| Name of the Unit |
Measures Adopted |
| Kaling Iron works |
Electrostatic Precipitators, Dust Catchers, Gas Cleaning,
Effluent Treatment. |
| Jayaswals Neco Ltd. |
Gas Cleaning, Water Sprayers, De-duster, Water Recycling.
Zero Fugitive Emission, Plantation. Usha Martin Industries Gas Cleaning,
Boilers for CPP & MBPG of MBF. |
Tata Metaliks Gas Cleaning, Re-use of spent gas, Plantation. Southern
I & S Ltd Gas Cleaning, Dust catchers, Venturies. Kirloskar Ferrous
Gas Cleaning with ventury scrubber & saturators, water recycling Sathvahana
Ispat Gas Cleaning etc. Lanco Industries Dust catcher, saturator & ventury,
rubbing system. Sesa Industries Gas Cleaning, water recycling. Malvika
Steel Ltd. Effluent Treatment, dust extractor system, electrostatic
precipitators Usha Ispat Ltd. Effluent Treatment, Dust extractor system,
electrostatic precipitators. Electro steel castings Gas Cleaning, water
recycling, dust control, plantation.
Pig Iron producers in the public sector
Silicon content for foundry grade pig iron as per IS 224/78 ranges from
1.25 to 3.15 per cent whereas for making steel the percentage of Silicon
has to be preferably between less than 0.5 to 1.5 per cent. The four
major plants of SAIL i.e. Bhilai, Bokaro, Durgapur and Rourkela are
now producing pig iron with silicon with above range as per IS 13502/92
to cater to the steelmaking industries. During the period April, 2000-February,
2001, the major plants of SAIL have reduced their pig iron production
by about 39 per cent to 3.27 lakh tonnes from 5.36 lakh tonnes in the
corresponding period of the previous year in conformity with the Company's
policy to produce more value-added products.
IISCO, Burnpur, is producing foundry grade pig iron for the manufacture
of cast iron spun pipes, for cast iron foundries, Steel foundries, SG
iron castings etc. IISCO's production of pig iron declined by 10.4 per
cent to 3.14 lakh tonnes during April2000-February 2001 from about 3.51
lakh tonnes produced in the same period last year.
VISL is producing pig iron with a Silicon content ranging between 1.25
to 1.75 per cent. It has pig casting machines for supplying foundry
grade pig iron. VISL's production dropped by 26.1 per cent during April
to February 2001 to 22, 100 tonnes from 29,900 tonnes during the corresponding
period of the previous year.
Vizag Steel Plant of RINL is now producing low Silica basic grade iron
for steelmaking to IS 2892 specification. VSP's production of pig iron
during April 2000 - February 2001 was higher by 4 percent at 2.33 lakh
tonnes from 2.24 lakh tonnes during the same period of last year.
New Unit
The 350m3 blast furnace of Kudremukh Iron & Steel Co (KISCO) has been
commissioned on 30th January 2001. The technology has been supplied
by Indomag steel technology Ltd., Indian Subsidiary of SMS Demag AG,
Germany. The Blast Furnace will produce annually 240,000 tonnes of hot
metal of low sulphur and low phosphorus using pellets and imported coke
as raw materials. The furnace is equipped with PLC based Automation
system including raw material batching and charing system, automation
of stoves in cycling order and continuous measurement of furnace parameters
with logging of all events.
Conclusion
The Indian foundry industry has been facing several constraints. During
the last few years, orders from Government departments like the Railways,
DGSD, Post and Telegraph have reduced considerably. Railways are replacing
the cast iron sleepers with concrete sleepers while sanitary casting
items are being replaced by PVC, cement and asbestos products.
Many foundries in the small scale sector have closed down while some
are struggling to survive. In the Howrah district of West Bengal alone
more than 100 units have closed down.
To help the industry the central government should spend more on the
development of the infrastructure sectors like the Railways, CPWD, Telecommunication
etc. so that the derived investment demand could flow into the foundry
industry.
The foundries in India, particularly the smaller ones, are using obsolete
technology and needs modernisation with better technology so that the
cost of production comes down.
Acknowledgement - Indian Pig Iron Industry published
by the Joint Plant Committee of Ministry of Steel in 1998.
