INNOVATIONS IN FERRO ALLOYS TECHNOLOGY IN INDIA

C.N. Harman
FACOR Alloys Limited, Shreeramnagar-535 101, Dist.Vizianagaram. A.P. e-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT Steel is the most versatile material which has made the progress in every aspect on this earth possible. There are hundreds of varieties of steel because for each application it has to be made with specific properties to get the most optimum usage. It is well known that the basic constituent of steel is iron. But it is the proportion of other elements in it, which give each type of steel certain specific properties. These elements are added in liquid iron in form of Ferro alloys to get the desired composition and properties. Thus, Ferro alloys are important additives in the production of steel. It can be said that no steel can be made without use of one or more of the several Ferro alloys.They form the backbone of steel. Thus, the Ferro alloys industry is vitally linked for its growth and development to that of the steel industry. Ferro alloys industry in India has never been globally competitive, despite its rich ore deposits and lowcost manpower, essentially due to a) Insufficient availability and high cost of electric power b) Increasing ores and reductants cost c) Non-availability of low ash, low phos. coking coal in the country for the production of desired coke with low ash, and low phos. contents, making import of such coke at a high cost imperative d) High-cost and insufficient infrastructural facilities (both road and rail) for rapid transportation of ore from mines to plants e) Stiff competition from producers and exporters of Ferro alloys in other countries like South Africa, Kazakhstan, China, Russia, Australia etc. due to global trade agreement which has made drastic reduction in customs duty on imports necessary. f) Wide fluctuations in the International price of Ferro alloys depending on demand versus supply. To over come these challenges plus adhering to stringent pollution control norms innovations are inevitable in the process technology, and plant equipment design, along with frequent changes in product mix, to be more cost-effective. An attempt is made in this paper to address the innovations that took place in the past and those that further need to be made, considering the future of this industry. 1. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Ferro alloys production in India through submerged arc furnace (SAF) route made a beginning in late 1950s. After the invention by Soderberg of self- baking type electrodes, during 1920s, this became the most preferred way for making bulk ferro alloys of Silicon, Manganese & Chromium. 1.1 First Phase of the Industry The initial/first phase of the industry is marked by the installation of small capacity furnaces mostly for the production of Mn-alloys. The status of the Indian ferro alloy industry by mid-sixties is given in table-1. With

26

INFACON XI

the starting up of the first furnace at VISL, Bhadravathi, a total of 18 furnaces were commissioned by the midsixties. Table 1: Status of Ferro Alloy industry by the mid sixties Sl. No. 1 Name of the Plant Visveswaraya Iron & steel Co, Ltd ( VISL ) Furnace No. Capacity In MVA 1.5 1.5 9.0 12.0 12.0 4.6 7.5 7.5 7.5 9.0 9.0 3.6 7.5 9.0 9.0 9.0 9.0 129.4 Year of Start-up 1950 1950 1950 1962 1962 1956 1957 1958 1962 1958 1958 1958 1959 1959 1963 1961 1962

2 3

4 5 6 7

1 2 3 4 5 1 Dandeli Ferro Alloys Ltd 1 Ferro Alloys Corporation Ltd(FACOR) 2 3 1 Tata Iron & steel Co, Ltd (TISCO) 2 1 Jeypur Sugar Co. Ltd (JEYSUCO) 2 1 Universal Ferro Alloys Ltd(UFA) 2 1 Khandelwal Ferro Alloys Co. Ltd. 2 TOTAL 18

1.2 Second Phase Expansion With the advent of production of stainless steel and alloy steels in India, of which Cr is the most important ingredient, the chromium alloys production with totally indigenous raw materials, in view of restrictions on imports then, was innovated through research and developmental studies during sixties. Ferro Alloys Corporation Ltd., after successfully proving its production with Indian chrome ores, Giridhi low phos coke and noncoking coal in the 600 KVA pilot SAF at National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur, started industrial scale production of chrome alloys in 1967.[1]&[4]. First, they commissioned their 12 MVA, SAF for production of High carbon ferro chrome and Silico Chrome, then after installation of rotary kilns for pre-heating of ore fines and for calcination of lime-stone, to be fed to an 8 MVA tilting type open arc furnace, the production of Low carbon ferro chrome was started. Thus the second phase of expansion of the industry took place between late sixties and late seventies, when thirteen more moderately sized furnaces were added to undertake production of Si and Cr alloys. The brief details of capacity additions are given in table-2. Table 2: Capacity additions in late sixties and seventies Sl. No. 1 Name of the Plant Indian Metals and Ferro Alloys Ltd.(IMFA) Furnace No. 1 2 4 5 Capacity In MVA 10.0 24.0 12.0 8.0 Year of Start-up 1967 1974 1968 1968

Ferro Alloys Corporation Ltd. (FACOR)

Innovations in Ferro Alloys Technology in India Table 2: Capacity additions in late sixties and seventies (Continued) Sl. No. 3 Name of the Plant Sandur Manganese & Iron Ore Ltd,(SMIORE) Furnace No. 1 2 1 2 2 3 1 1 2 13 Total 174.2 Capacity In MVA 15.0 20.0 9.0 6.5 1.2 2.5 33.0 16.5 16.5 Year of Start-up 1968 1977 1969 1979 1969 1969 1977 1975 1979

27

Ind. Development Corp.of Orissa Ltd.(IDCOL)

Dandeli Ferro Alloys Ltd

Maharashtra Electro Smelters Ltd.(MEL)

Nav Bharat Ferro Aloys Ltd. (NAVFAL)

1.3 Third Phase of Expansion The third phase of expansion in the country was prompted by product diversification, availability of advanced technology and encouragement from Government by way of incentives for setting up 100% export oriented plants, to earn valuable foreign exchange. FACOR again for the first time in the country have pursued a strategy to utilize the disseminated ores, run of mine ore rejects and waste dumps containing on an average about 20% Cr203 in their Boula Mining lease. They sponsored beneficiation studies on these in Regional Research Laboratory, Bhubaneswar, and with the process flow-sheet developed on these studies, they set up a pilot plant for chrome ore beneficiation at their plant in A.P. and achieved excellent results by up-gradation of such ore rejects and fines to concentrates containing more than 40% Cr203 with Cr/Fe ratio 1.7 and SiO2 4 - 6%. The development work was also carried out to mix these concentrates along with naturally occurring ore fines to form into briquettes which have the required crushing strength for being fed to the smelting furnaces.[2][4]. The feasibility for production of charge chrome (Cr 58-60%) using low grade lumpy chrome ores along with these briquettes was established in April 1979, in one of their sub-merged arc furnaces at Shreeramnagar. About 500 tonnes of charge chrome was produced and exported to consumers abroad. Their acceptance of this charge chrome as per international standard, enabled FACOR to obtain the industrial licence to set up with their own technology, the first 100% Export Oriented Unit for production of 50,000TPA of charge chrome in India.[3]. Thus, the era of charge chrome production began in 1983. Subsequently, two more export oriented units for ferro chrome with similar capacity were installed but with foreign technical collaboration, One with Outokumpo and other with Elkem A/s, during 1980s, 13 more furnaces were started with the already developed technology of briquetting to adopt to the prevailing raw material conditions. The details of capacity additions during eighties are given in table-3 1.4 Fourth Phase of Expansion M/s. Electrokemish A/S of Norway who supplied most of the SAFs to India, on the basis of their pilot scale studies in a 2000 KVA furnace had expressed that there will be 10-20% reduction in specific power while smelting in large size furnaces compared to small size furnaces. But it is surprisingly not found to be correct in India! Smelting power and other usage norms reported by producers in small furnaces are found to be al-

28 Table 3: Capacity additions during eighties Sl. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Name of the Plant Sandur Manganese & Iron Ore Ltd.(SMIORE) Maharastra Electro Smelters Ltd.(MEL) Ferro Alloys Corporation Ltd.(FACOR )Garividi Indian Metal & Ferro Alloys Ltd.(IMFA) Navbharat Ferro Alloys Ltd.(NABFAL) VBC Ferro Alloys Ltd Ferro Alloys Corporation Ltd. (CCP) (FACOR) OMC Alloys Ltd. (OMCAL) Ispat Alloys Ltd.(IAL) Indian Charge Chrome Ltd Universal Ferro Allied Chemicals Ltd. (UNIFERRO)(LC FeMn) Total Furnace No. 3 2 6 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 3 4 5 13 Capacity In MVA 20.0 33.0 16.0 48.0 16.5 16.5 45.0 30.0 10.5 48.0 4.0 16.5 16.5 320.5

INFACON XI

Year of Start-up 1980 1981 1981 1983 1983 1984 1984 1986 1986 1989 1987 1989 1989

most equal to those obtained in large furnaces! More over the smaller furnaces of 1.5 to 6 MW have been found to have better flexibility in change over from one ferro alloy to another and they can utilize ore fines without any eruptions!. Use of pin vibrators, avoid bridging of charge! This gave the scope for establishing many small furnaces at comparatively low initial capital cost with the announcement by Govt. of liberalized de-licencing and broad banding policy in addition to incentives like concessions in power tariff and excise tax exemptions to small scale industries in selected industrially backward areas in some states for promoting industrialization. This resulted in mush-room growth of small scale producers of ferro alloys during the fourth phase of expansion in India.[4]. About 45 plants with low furnace capacities ranging from 1 MVA to 7.5 MVA were established. List of such small scale ferro alloy units is given table-4. Table- 4: Small Scale Ferro Alloy Units Sl.No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Particulars Aloke Ferro Alloys Andhra Ferro Alloys Bansal Ferro Alloys Deepak Ferro Alloys Haryana Ferro Alloys Hindustan Ferro Alloys Mandsour Ferro Alloys Monnet Ferro Alloys Monnet Ferro Alloys Pooja Ferro Alloys Srinivasa Ferro Alloys Syam Sundar Ferro Alloys V.K. Ferro Alloys Amit Ferro Alloys Anjaney Ferro Alloys Location Raipur, M.P. Kothavalasa, A.P. Bhalgaru, Haryana Raipur, M.P Haryana Hamirpur, U.P. Mandasour, M.P. Raipur, M.P. Durgapur, W.B. Goa Raipur, M.P. Malanpur, M.P. Vizag, A.P. Raipur, M.P. Mihijam,Bihar. MV Rating 2 x 4 .5 1 x 3.6 1 x 3.5 1x4 1 x 2.5 1 x 3.6 2x4 1 x 7.5 1 x 7.5 1 x 4.5 2x5 2 x 3.5 1 x 1.25 1 x 3.6 1 x 3.6

Innovations in Ferro Alloys Technology in India Table- 4: Small Scale Ferro Alloy Units (Continued) Sl.No 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 Particulars Balaji Electric Chemicals(P) Ltd. Bhaskar Ferro Alloys Bhubaneswar Ferro Alloys Cochin Ferro Alloys Cresent Alloys (P) Ltd Gemeni Electro Chemicals (P) Ltd. Golden Ferro Alloys Goutam Ferro Alloys Grima Alloys Pvt. Ltd. Hindusthan Ferro Alloys Hindustan Melleables Hira Ferro Alloys Hitech Electro Thermics Ltd. Jain Carbide & Chemicals K.R. Alloys (P) Ltd. Karthik Alloys Karthi Ferro Alloys Maithan Ferro Alloys Muscan Ferro Alloys Navchrome (Navbharat) Sai Chemicals Shri Ganesh Ferro Alloys Shyam Ferro Alloys Silcal Electro Met. Ltd. SNAM Ferro Alloys Srinivas Ferro Alloys Standard Ferro Alloys Standard Ispat Ltd. SUN metals & Alloys (P) Ltd. Thesiblal Met. Ltd. Total Location Yeotmal, Durgapur, W.B Pondichery Cochin Seoni, M.P. U.P. Karaikal, T.N. Ranchi, Bihar. Uroi, U.P. Hamirpur, U.P. Dhanbad, Bihar. Raipur, M.P. Palakad Raipur, M.P. Palakad Goa Durgapur, W.B. Asansol, W.B Pitampur, M.P. Raipur Raipur, M.P. Raipur, M.P. Burdwan, W.B. Avanash, T.N. Pondichery Durgapur, W.B. Raipur, M.P. Raipur, M.P. Palakad Pondichery MV Rating 1 x 3.6 1x6 1 x 1.8, 1 x 0.5 1x2 1 x 2.5 1x3 1x2 1x5 1 x2.5 1x3 1 x 2.5 1 x 7, 2 x 2.5, 1 x 5 1 x 1, 1 x 2.5, 2 x 7.5 2 x 2.5, 1 x 3.5 1 x 0.5, 1 x 1.5 1x5 1 x 5, 1 x 3.6 2x5 1x5 1 x 3.6, 1 x 6.5 1 x 3.6 1 x 7.5 1 x 7.5 1 x 2.5 2 x 3.5 1 x 6.5, 2 x 7.5 1 x 7.5 1 x 3.5, 1 x 3.0 2 x 1.5 1 x 4.5 68 furnaces

29

Then the down turn in ferro alloys demand started in 1990s and further accelerated in 1997-98 due to over all recession in steel industry. This caused a crash in price of ferro alloys. In addition to this because of increased demand for ores from China, there was sudden rise in price of ores. Also there was increase in power cost due to withdrawal of some of the earlier concessional tariffs given in some areas. This resulted in closure of many ferro alloys plants in the country. Only those who had captive mining leases and/or captive thermal power generation plants or were located in such backward areas where concessional power tariff was extended, survived. Again in 2002, with the increase in demand of steel, the ferro alloys market started improving and some more plants were added for the production of manganese and chrome alloys. 2. CURRENT STATUS OF THE INDUSTRY

The current production capacity of bulk ferro alloys in India is about 3.36 million tonnes per annum, contributed by 118 plants operating total 229 furnaces. 63 plants with 144 furnaces have capacity for 1.98 million

30

INFACON XI

tonnes of HC FeMn & SiMn, 29 plants with 38 furnaces have capacity for 0.212 million tonnes of FeSi and 26 plants with 47 furnaces have capacity for 1.164 million tonnes of HC FeCr. The details of the plants are given in tables-5, 6 & 7. (source : IFAPA) Table 5: Ferro-Manganese & Silicon-Manganese Producing Plants Sr. Name No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Adhunik Meghalaya Steels P.Ltd Alok Ferro Alloys Ltd Amit Ferro Alloys Ltd. Anjaneya Ferro Alloys Ltd. Balaji Electrosmelters Ltd. Balmukund Sponge & Iron Ltd. Bhaskar Shrachi Alloys Ltd. Castron Technologies Ltd. Chhattisgarh Electricity Co.Ltd Corporate Ispat Alloys Ltd Cosmic Ferro Alloys Pvt.Ltd. Crescent Alloys Pvt.Ltd. Dandeli Ferro Pvt. Ltd Dayal Ferro Alloys Ltd Deccan Ferro Alloys Ltd. Deepak Ferro Alloys Ltd. Gautam Ferro Alloys Ltd Haldia Steels Ltd. Hira Ferro Alloys Ltd. Hi-Tech Electrothermics Ltd. Impex Ferro Tech Ltd. Indsil Electrosmelts Ltd Indsil Energy & Electro Chemicals Ltd Ispat Godavari Jain Carbide & Chemicals Ltd. Jalan Ispat Castings Ltd Kartik Alloys Ltd Kartik Alloys Ltd M.B.Smelters Ltd. M.S.P. Power Maharashtra Elektrosmelt Ltd Maithan Alloys Ltd Maithan Smelters Ltd Manganese Ore India Ltd Meghalaya Sova Ispat Ltd Modern India Con-cast Ltd. Site Plant Location State Meghalaya Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh Jharkhand Maharashtra Jharkhand West Bengal Jharkhand Chhattisgarh West Bengal West Bengal Madhya Pradesh Karnataka West Bengal Andra Pradesh Chhattisgarh Jharkhand West Bengal Chhattisgarh Kerala West Bengal Kerala Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh M.P. Goa West Bengal Andhra Chhattisgarh Maharashtra West Bengal Meghalaya Madhya Pradesh Meghalaya West Bengal Capacity No.of Install. Furnaces MVA 2 15.00 2 6.10 2 7.20 3 13.25 1 3.60 1 9.00 2 13.50 1 5.00 5 45.00 1 7.50 2 18.00 1 2.50 3 7.80 2 13.50 1 6.00 2 7.50 2 10.00 3 15.50 3 9.70 1 2.50 4 25.00 2 10.80 3 15.50 2 10.00 3 8.00 1 7.50 2 7.20 2 7.20 2 1.50 2 10.00 2 66.00 4 25.00 1 7.50 1 5.00 2 16.00 3 15.00

Byrnihat Raipur Raipur Mihijam Yavatmal Giridih Durgapur Bokaro Raipur Durgapur Bankura Seoni Dandeli Ramgarh Kotthavalasa Raipur Ramgarh Burdwan Raipur Palakkad Burdwan Palakkad Raipur Raigarh Raipur Meghnagar Goa Durgapur Hindpur Raigarh Chandrapur Burdwan Byrnihat Balaghat Bishnupur

Innovations in Ferro Alloys Technology in India Table 5: Ferro-Manganese & Silicon-Manganese Producing Plants (Continued) Sr. Name No. 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 Monnet Ispat Ltd Nagpur Power & Ind.Ltd (earlier KFA Ltd) Natural Sugar & Allied Industries Ltd. Nava Bharat Ferro Alloys Ltd Orion Ferro Prakash Industries Puja Ferro Alloys Ltd, Cuncolim Raghubir Ferro Alloys Ltd. Sai Chemicals Pvt Ltd SAL Steels Ltd. Sandur manganese & Iron Ores Ltd. Saturn Ferro Alloys Sharp Ferro Alloys Ltd. Shivam Iron & Steel Co.Pvt.Ltd. Shri Gayatri Minerals Ltd. Shri Girija Smelters Ltd. Shyam Century Ltd Shyam Ferro Alloys Ltd Sova Ispat Alloys Ltd Sri Ganesh Ferro Alloy P Ltd Srinivasa Ferro Alloys Ltd Srinivasa Ferro Alloys Ltd Tata Iron & Steel Co.Ltd. Tirumala Balaji Alloys Pvt.Ltd Universal Ferro Alloy & Allied Vandana Global Ltd VBC Ferro Alloys Ltd (earlier Jeypore Sugars) Total Site Plant Location State Chhattisgarh Maharashtra Maharashtra Andhra Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh Goa Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh Kutch,Gujarat Karnataka Chhattisgarh West Bengal Jharkhand West Bengal Chhattisgarh Meghalaya West Bengal West Bengal M.P. West Bengal Chhattisgarh Orissa Chhattisgarh Maharashtra Chhattisgarh Orissa Capacity No.of Install. Furnaces MVA 4 24.50 4 20.80 2 12.00 4 77.10 2 10.00 3 22.50 1 5.00 2 9.00 1 5.50 1 24.00 3 55.00 2 9.00 2 15.00 2 12.00 2 19.00 2 8.60 2 16.00 8 70.50 3 1 3 2 2 2 5 2 1 144 24.00 3.00 18.50 8.60 24.00 18.00 53.50 18.00 5.00

31

Raipur Kanhan Osmanabad Paloncha Raigarh Raigarh Salcette Raipur Raipur Gandhidham Sandur Raipur Durgapur Giridih Bishnupur Raipur DSP/Burdwan Durgapur Raigarh Durgapur Raipur Joda Raigarh Tumsar Raipur Rayagada

1043.50

Table 6: Ferro-Silicon Producing Plants Sr. Name No. 1 2 3 4 Akshay Ispat & Ferro Alloys P.Ltd. Bharat Alloys & Energy Ltd. Bimala Ispat Alloy Byrnihat Ferro Plant Location Site Namchi Kurnool State S.Sikkim Andhra Meghalaya Guwahati No. Capacity of Furnaces MVA 1 1 1 1 7.50 16.50 3.60 7.50

32 Table 6: Ferro-Silicon Producing Plants (Continued) Sr. Name No. 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Gita Ferro Hindustan Malleable & Forging Hi-Tech Electrothermics Indian Metal & Ferro Alloys Ltd. J.K.Alloys Jayantia Alloys Lakshmi Industries Maithan Smelters Meghalaya Steel Nala Hari Ferro Pioneer Carbide Quality Castings RNB Carbide Sai Megha Ferro Satya Megha Ispat P.Ltd. Shree Sai Smelters ( I ) P.Ltd. Shri Guru Kripa Silical Metallurgic P.Ltd SMS Smelters Ltd Snam Alloys Sri Lakshmi Electrosmelters Sri Sitaram Industries Tecil Power Ltd VBC Ferro Alloys Visvesaraya Iron & Steel Ltd Plant Location Site State Meghalaya Bihar Kerala Orissa Jammu Meghalaya Andhra Meghalaya Meghalaya Meghalaya M.P. Gujarat Meghalaya Meghalaya Meghalaya Meghalaya Jammu Kerala Arunachal Pondicherry Tamilnadu Jammu Kerala Andhra Karnataka

INFACON XI

No. Capacity of Furnaces MVA 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 5 38 3.60 3.00 1.00 58.00 3.60 11.10 1.50 7.50 5.00 9.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 3.60 5.00 5.00 2.50 12.00 15.00 5.00 2.50 2.00 7.50 16.50 36.00 266.00

Dhanbad Alwaye Therubali

Nellore

Byrnihat Byrnihat Palakkad Lekhi Nettapakkam Aluva Chingavanam Medak Bhadravati

Table 7: Ferro-Chrome Producin g Plants Sr. Name No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Andhra Ferro Alloys Balasore Alloys Ltd Corporate Ispat Alloys Ltd. Ferro Alloys Corporation Ltd Ferro Alloys Corporation Ltd GMR Technologies & Ind.Ltd. IDCOL Ferro Chrome Plant Indian Charge Chrome Ltd Site Plant Location State Andhra Orissa W.B. Andhra Orissa Andhra Orissa Orissa No. of Furnaces 2 5 1 6 1 2 2 1 Capacity MVA 6.80 75.00 7.50 58.50 45.00 15.00 15.00 48.00

Vizianagaram Balasore Durgapur Garividi Randia Srikakulam Jajpur Rd Choudwar

Innovations in Ferro Alloys Technology in India Table 7: Ferro-Chrome Producin g Plants (Continued) Sr. Name No. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Indian Metal & Ferro Alloys Ltd. Jindal Stainless Ltd. Jindal Stainless Ltd Jindal Steel & Power Ltd KC Minerals Mandsaur Ferro Alloys Ltd Nava Bharat Ferro Alloys Ltd Pee Ell Alloys Prakash Industries Rawmet Ferro Alloys Rohit Ferro Tech P.Ltd. S.A.L. Steel Sri Vasavi Industries Ltd Standard Chrome Ltd. Tata Iron & Steel Co.Ltd. Tawi Chemicals Industries Tawi Industrial Enterprises Utkal Manufacturing Services Ltd. Site Plant Location State Orissa Orissa Andhra Chhattisgarh Jammu M.P. Orissa Jammu Chhattisgarh Orissa W.B. Gujarat W.B. Chhattisgarh Orissa Jammu Jammu Orissa No. of Furnaces 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 47

33

Capacity MVA 24.00 120.00 23.50 24.00 3.00 7.90 45.00 3.125 7.50 36.00 15.00 24.00 28.00 10.00 30.00 1.45 4.50 27.00 704.775

Theruballi Duburi Kothavalasa Raigarh Mandsaur Denkenal BariBrahmana Raipur Cuttack Bihnupur Kutch-Bhuj Bishnupur Raigarh Bamnipal BariBrahmana Choudwar

2.1 Raw Materials The country has adequate reserves of ores to meet the needs of the bulk ferro alloys industry if the policy of control on export of ores and conservation of minerals by using beneficiated low grade ores is followed. Table-8 gives the data on recoverable reserves of ores and fluxes. Table 8: As per IBM (As on 01/04/2000) Sl.No. 1 2 3 4 5 2.2 Reductants The high ash and volatile matter contents of the reductants have marked adverse affect on the furnace operation. The resistivity and reactivity of the reductants also has very significant effect on productivity of the furMinerals Chromite Manganese ore Quartzite Bauxite Magnesite Total Recoverable Reserves (in Million tones) 97.000 191.457 864.710 2527.167 287.535

34

INFACON XI

naces. The high sulphur and phosphorous contents of the reductants adversely affect the quality of ferro alloys produced.

Charcoal is considered as an ideal reductant in the manufacture of silicon alloys. Metallurgical coke from steel plants and other coke making plants along with non-coking coal are used for the production of manganese alloys. Imported low ash & low phos. coke along with non-coking low phos. coals and Anthracite coal are used in the production of chrome alloys.

In India coal reserves are about 202 billion tonnes but only about 15% of this is coking coal.[5]. Most of the coals are very high in ash and not amenable to known methods of washing because the shell rock is finely distributed in coal. In the absence of low ash & low phos. coking coal/coke in the country, production of chrome alloys has to depend on imported coke. The Indian ferro alloy producers have substituted 50 to 70 percent of the requirement with low phos. non-coking coal though high in ash and imported low ash anthracite coal from Vietnam. Typical analysis of reductants used in ferro alloy industry are given in table-9. Table 9: Typical Analysis of Reductants used in ferro alloy industry

Ash Analysis
S.No 1 2 3 Materials Steam Coal CIL Coke Low Ash Met. Coke Anthracite Coal Met. Coke Durgapur Pearl Coke Charcoal Ash % 38.20 33.54 12.90 VM % 30.10 4.46 4.80 FC % 31.70 62.00 82.30 P % 0.058 0.013 0.020 S % 0.340 0.540 0.560 SiO2 % 62.80 66.24 56.92 FeO % 4.96 4.79 6.68 Al203 % 19.80 22.95 22.30 CaO % 1.82 0.84 1.82 MgO % 5.54 1.01 6.65

7.20

5.70

87.10

0.009

0.700

45.20

10.35

29.20

2.52

5.34

5 6

32.00 22.65

1.90 2.30

66.10 75.05

0.079 0.040

0.980 0.850

31.20 54.40

9.23 8.55

22.82 23.71

2.66 1.96

8.87 4.43

8.57

21.12

70.31

0.061

0.370

43.60

3.99

10.33

32.0

5.00

Performance of the Indian ferro alloy industry in the year 2005-06 is highly significant as it has registered the highest ever production of 1.64 million tones as compared to 1.48 million tones in the year 2004-05, due to increased domestic consumption and exports. Table-10 gives the figures of production and exports during the last two years. 3. REVIEW OF TECHNOLOGY ADOPTED

Some of the recent plants have incorporated latest technologies to use both lumps as well as fines after necessary beneficiation and agglomeration. Also they have installed effective pollution control measures in the form of bag filters for gas cleaning after waste heat recovery. Although the basic technique of ferro alloy production in submerged arc electric furnace has not undergone any major change, the design, the size, automation and control features of ferro alloy furnaces have undergone substantial changes in the recent past in order to meet the changing raw materials conditions and to achieve higher productivity, and better economy of operation and conservation of energy.

Innovations in Ferro Alloys Technology in India Table 10: Production & Exports during 2004-05 & 2005-06 (source: IFAPA) Particulars PRODUCTION - Ferro Alloys - HC FeMn & SiMn - HC FeCr - FeSi Export of Ferro Alloys 2005-06 (Million tones) 1.65 0.89 0.66 0.09 0.45 2004-05 (Million tones) 1.48 0.77 0.59 0.099 0.39 Increase (in %) 11.48 15.58 11.86 -9.00 15.38

35

There are some well known processes which have been developed and adopted on large scale elsewhere in the world. For instance

SRC process (Showa Denko, Japan)[6][7].

In this process pellets made from chrome ore fines are pre-reduced in solid state and are fed to submerged arc furnaces in hot condition. Depending on the extent of pre-reduction of the chromium oxide in pellets obtained in the rotary kiln which utilizes the heat of the furnace exhaust gases, the specific power consumption can be reduced to 50% of the normal. Outo Kumpu Process from Finland [6][7] In this process pellets are made from chrome ore fines/concentrates and are preheated and fed to the furnace in hot condition along with other charge materials. In this process the power consumption for smelting is brought down by about 25%. This process has been adopted by Tisco at their Bhominipal plant in India. Because of several problems in filtration after wet grinding and in the pellet sintering shaft furnaces, the plant could not be operated with full capacity. Now they are using pellets along with briquettes after installing a briquetting plant to achieve full production capacity. However, several plants in South Africa have successfully adopted Outokumpu process. FACOR, at its Shreeramnagar plant carried out R&D work on pelletisation of high grade chrome ore fines. About 1500 tonnes of sintered pellets of chrome ore fines were produced and fed to furnace using 80% of the ore requirement in the form of these pellets.[7]. The results are encouraging. Very stable and smooth furnace operation was achieved with very good flame distribution over the whole surface area of the charge in furnace. The height of the flames was found to be very small, say few inches compared to few feet otherwise, particularly in the center of the furnace. It was further observed that fumes had extremely low content of flue dust. The specific power for smelting was lower by about 12% and the fixed carbon requirement was also lower by about 10%. Further studies are being made in this regard to use sintered pellets on regular basis. Chrome ores are mostly friable in nature and necessitate some form of agglomeration before being charged into the furnace along with other raw materials. Most of the chrome alloy producers in India have adopted the briquetting process towards agglomeration of fines.

There has been developed the D.C arc furnace process [8][9] where fines are charged through a prebaked carbon hollow electrode but problems have been found with furnace cover parts and other equipments due to very high heat radiation. Recently some improvements have been reported by better cooling of parts by copper panels etc. But the energy consumption is still higher than conventional process. So unless sensible heat and latent heat in the exhaust gases is fully recovered by generating power, the process may not be economically attractive. FACOR has planned R&D work on solid state reduction of chrome ore fines in a fluidized bed reactor using natural gas and hope to get positive results.

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INFACON XI

Regarding Mn ore fines, they are being directly used along with lumps in small furnaces without affecting the specific power required for smelting. However, Research and Development work were carried out on the sintering of Mn ore fines by Paramount Sinters Limited for Maharastra Electrosmelt and by Regional Research Laboratory, Bhubaneswar for FACOR. FACOR had set up a 15000 tonnes per year capacity Manganese ore sinter plant at their Shreeramnagar works with the collaboration of Regional Research Laboratory, Bhubaneswar in 1985. The sinters produced were used at the rate of about 15% of the ore charge for production of ferro manganese. All minus 6 mm fines in ores were utilized. MEL are also sintering and using all the minus 6mm fines in a pressurized pan sintering plant where apart from suction below, pressure is applied by use of compressed air over the top of the sinter pan, thereby increasing the production of sinter. 4. FUTURE OUT LOOK

The Indian Chrome & Manganese Alloys Industry has a lot of potential to meet the domestic and export demand, but has been all along facing abnormal fluctuations in their price. India has rich mineral resources as it stands 2nd to South Africa in chrome ores and 7th in the world in Manganese ore production. It has the third largest pool of technical manpower and has low cost labour to face competition. Although the performance and operating norms in some of the Indian plants are comparable to those in foreign plants, because of higher power cost, higher raw materials cost etc., much higher efficiencies in operations of Indian plants are required to face the future competition for which the following innovations need to be applied to expansion of existing plants or for new ones. 1. Increase Productivity by having large size Furnaces with higher Transformer Capacity

Small furnaces have very low out put per man. The wages which are comparatively low now would soon shoot up with inflation and improved standards of living. Thus it is very essential to increase labour productivity. It is desirable to employ single furnace having high transformer capacity instead of operating several small furnaces. Together with employing large size furnaces, the raw materials preparation and handling systems must be modernized with adequate control systems. 2. Employment of auto furnace control with auto on-load tap changers and HT capacitor banks to obtain effective power utilization

Employment of auto furnace control equipment coupled with auto on load tap changers and H.T Capacitor banks are todays common feature of modern furnaces which contribute towards increased productivity through higher effective power utilization. 3. Reducing heat losses from furnace

Several open furnaces are in operation in the country today. Closed furnaces should be envisaged during modernization/expansion or new projects for manufacture of Mn and Cr alloys. This will reduce the heat losses from the furnace and enable recovery of sensible and latent heat in exhaust gases, as well as bring down the size of gas cleaning units since it will require handling of smaller volumes of gas. In addition to energy recovery from waste gas, it ensures cleaner environment. 4. Control of Moisture in Raw materials

In our country due to long rainy season and lack of sufficient sheds, the moisture content of various raw materials including reductants goes beyond acceptable limits and increases specific power and reducer requirement. For low moisture level in raw materials, drying operation is imperative since it will help not only to bring down the specific power consumption but also reduce the specific consumption of reductants, besides giving steady slag and metal composition.

Innovations in Ferro Alloys Technology in India 5. Use of agglomerated feed

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Agglomerates, being consistent in size and uniform in chemical composition, are better than natural lumps in their reducibility and therefore use of agglomerates lowers the specific power consumption, as well as helps to attain smooth furnace operation. In India ore sinters are used in the production of Mn alloys in a couple of plants, while briquettes are used in the production of chromium alloys in most of the plants. There is scope to implement the scheme of utilizing more and more agglomerated feed in the manufacture of Cr and Mn ferro alloys. Since pellets have an advantage over briquettes, pelletization process has to be eventually followed by the Indian plants to reduce their costs by bringing down the specific power consumption. There is need for suppliers to offer lower cost smaller capacity pelletisation plants, considering the existing small and medium size furnaces in use. REFERENCES
[1] .Status of Ferro alloy Industry in the Liberalised Economy by C.N.Harman at National Workshop, Jamshedpur 2 - 21st August 1996. [2] .Agglomeration of Chrome ore fines by Briquetting and the performance of Briquettes in the smelting of High Carbon FerroChrome& Charge Chrome at FACOR by C.N..Harman, M.Subramanian, and O.Seetharamayya. [3] Production of Charge Chrome in 45 MVA Submerged arc electric furnace at FACOR, Randia using a mix of Briquettes and lumpy Chrome ore by C.N.Harma, M.Subramanian, and Manoj Saraf. [4] . Ferro Chrome Industry in India by C.N..Harman at International Chromium Development Association, meeting at Jaipur in 1998. [5] .Stamp Charged Coke Making Technology. P.K.Banerjee., S.H.Krishnan and A.D.Baijal, Trans, Indian Inst. Met., - Vol.59, No.5 [6] Some Technical Issues in Ferro Chrome Smelting of Interest to Tata Steel by Amit Chatterjee, Tata Steel, Jamshedpur in National Seminor on Ferro Alloys in 2003 at Kolkata. [7] .Innovations in Ferro Alloys Technology by C.N.Harman, FACOR, in 2nd Ferro Alloys India in 2005 at New Delhi. [8] .D-C Arc Single Electrode Smelting Furnace by B.Kjellberg and B.Orrling (Asea Metallurgy, Sweden) in INFACON 86. [9] The Control and Operation of a Pilot plant D.C. Plasma Furnace by K.C. Nicol, M.S. Rennie and A.B. Stevart (Council for Mineral Technology, South Africa) in INFACON 86.