Durgapur Steel Plant is one of the integrated steel plants of Steel Authority of

India Limited, located in Durgapur, in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal.
It was set up with the help of UK.
DSP is situated about 158 km from Kolkata, its geographical location is defined
as 23 27' North and 88 29' east. It is situated on the banks of the Damodar River
in the Bardhhaman District. The Grand Trunk Road and the main Kolkata-Delhi rail
way line pass through Durgapur.
This is the third Integrated Steel Plant of the then Hindustan Steel Limited to
come up under public sector in India. The first two being Rourkela Steel Plant a
nd Bhilai Steel Plant in that order. Durgapur as a location was selected becaus
e of its proximity to coal fields, the Grand Trunk Road, Calcutta Delhi main rai
lway track, Calcutta Port, power from DVC (Damodar Valley Corporation) and water
from Durgapur Barrage on river Damodar.
The plant, covering an area of 6.4 square km was set up with an initial capacity
of 1 million tonne per annum (MTPA) of crude steel by a group of British Compan
ies in the late fifties. With an investment of Rs 189.6 crores including Rs 17.3
6 crores for Township development. The plant operated almost at the rated capaci
ty during the year 1963, 1964-65 and 1965-66. The capacity was expanded to 1.6 M
TPA in late sixties with an additional investment of Rs 67.83 crores, out of whi
ch Rs 6.31 crores was spent for the township.
The performance of the plant after expansion was much below the rated capacity w
hich called for setting up of a number committees are as follows:
Deterioration in raw materials quality to a great extent
Aging of the Plant
Obsolete Technology
High energy consumption
Later in the early eighties, British Steel Corporation (a British firm), MECON (
an Indian consultancy firm) and the Japanese Iron & Steel Federation were entrus
ted with the job of making a developmental plan for DSP after studying the probl
ems of the plant in detail.
Based on their findings SAIL decided to modernise DSP with a final Government ap
proved definitive cost of Rs 2668 crores in 1989 which later escalated to more t
han Rs 4500 crores. After modernisation the present capacity of the plant is 1.8
02 MTPA of crude Steel.

Coke oven is an important department in an integrated steel plant. In this depar

tment coal is carbonised into coke which is an essential raw material for the pr
oduction of hot metal in Blast Furnaces.
While carbonising coal into coke, a number of valuable coal chemicals are obtain
ed. These coal chemicals are also recovered and processed in this department.
Major sections in this department are:
1.
Coal Handling
2.
Coal Washery
3.
Coke Oven Battery and Coke Handling
4.
Coal Chemicals
Coal chemicals plant has the following sections:
Gas condensation section
Benzol rectification plant
Ammonium sulphate plant
BOD plant
MNCP (Mechanised Naphthalene Crystallization Plant)
Benzol absorption
Naphthalene absorption

Raw material handling plant is the starting point of the steel making process in
DSP. RMHP is mainly concerned with receiving, loading, storing and processing o
f all raw materials viz. iron ore lumps and fines, limestone and dolomite. The p
reparation of sinter mix is also done in RMHP using state of the art automation
system.
These are three Wagon Tipplers to unload the raw materials brought in rakes of w
agons from various mines. Tippler no. 3 came up later (7/1/91). The materials ar
e conveyed by a series of conveyors from the tippler hoppers to different yards
viz. ore yard and flux yard. They are stacked in the yards on same stacker cum r
eclaimers to intermediate surge bunkers for further transport to customer depart
ments like Blast Furnace, Sinter Plant, SMS, etc.
Sinter mix preparation:
Blend mix production started on 7/7/95. Installed capacity is 12051 TPD. The raw
materials required for the preparation of sinter mix is stored in 15 bunkers of
Junction house #25. The main constituents of the sinter mix are:
Iron Ore Fines
0- 10mm
Limestone Fines
0-3mm
Dolomite Fines
0-3mm
Coke Fines
0-3mm
All the waste generated in the plant like Ferro scrap, mill scale, BOF slag, and
return sinter fines are added in the sinter mix. These materials are received i
n wagons and dumpers, offloaded at the track hoppers and conveyed to the sinter
mix producing bunkers. These materials are used in a ratio based on the final si
nter chemistry requirement e.g.
Ore fines
64%
Coke
4%
Limestone
7%
Dolomite
10%
Mill scale
4%
Flue dust
4%
Sinter fines 100- sum of the above
The sinter mix is then sent to sinter plant for preparation of sinter.
Flux crushing plant:
The crushing plant consists of 6 impact hammer type crushers (3 primary crushers
of 200 TPH and 3 secondary crushers of 250 TPH each) and six screens of capacit
y 200 TPH. Limestone and dolomite are reclaimed from the flux yard and fed to th
e crushers via intermediate surge bunkers to get the required size of -3 mm by c
losed loop crushing system. There is a hopper for uploading BOF slag received in
dumpers. The slag is conveyed to a bunker and is crushed along with limestone a
nd dolomite. The crushed limestone and dolomite are then conveyed to a sinter mi
x proportioning bunkers in Junction House #25.
Coke crushing plant:
The crushing plant consists of 6 smooth roll crushers (2 primary of .50 TPH each
and 4 secondary of 35 TPH each). The coke breeze offloaded at the track hoppers
is reclaimed by the two paddle feeders and conveyed to the storage bunker of cr
usher. The coke is crushed to -3mm size and conveyed to the sinter mix proportio
ning bunkers in Junction House #25.
The iron ore fines are reclaimed from the ore yard by stacker cum reclaimers and
conveyed to the sinter mix proportioning bunkers.
All the materials are simultaneously withdrawn from the bunkers at the determine
d rate of a common conveyor and stacked on the sinter mix beds in the sinter mix
yard by Slewable Stacker of capacity 900TPH. It is reclaimed from the beds blen
der reclaimer (900 TPH) and conveyed to the sinter plant.

Raw sinter is a hard porous lump produced by controlled heating of a mixture of

iron ore fines, limestone fines, dolomite fines and other waste materials. Usage
of sinter in BF offers many advantages like utilisation of iron ore fines (whic
h otherwise cannot be used directly in blast furnace as it will choke the furnac
e due to its fineness), reduction in coke rate etc. Iron ore sintering started i
n 1910 and it flourished in Sweden, South Africa, etc. where there was coke shor
tage.
At the beginning (i.e. under 1 MPTA capacity), DSP did not have any sinter plant
. Two sintering machines were installed with a capacity of 25000 TPD each during
1.6 MTPA expansion of DSP in 1968. Then the target was to use 40% sinter in bla
st furnace. Later during modernisation of DSP to 1.802 MTPA capacity another sin
tering machine with a capacity of 5184 TPD was installed in 1995, making a total
installed capacity of 10184 TPD of sinter. Now the target sinter in Blast Furna
ce burden is 75%. Overall plant capacity is 3.009 MTPA.
Plant data:
Unit
Commissioned on
Hearth area
Old machine- I
15/01/68
142.7 m2
Old machine- II
20/01/68
142.7 m2
New machine
01/02/95
180 m2
The approximate weights of raw materials required for making one tonne sinter ar
e:
Ore fines
808 kg
Limestone and dolomite fines
200 kg
Coke fines
80 kg
Mill scale
27 kg
Ferro scrap
28 kg
Return fines
436 kg
The raw materials for each machine are stored in 9 bins. The materials are mixed
in required proportions and are sent to primary mixer and then to the condition
ing drum. The sinter mix green mix is sent to Sintering Machine.
A layer of previously sintered material called the Hearth Layer is spread on Gra
te Bars, over which the green mix is spread. A cut off plate adjusts the height
of the bed and the material is ignited under a set of burners (temperatures reac
hing 1200OC). The material is kept moving and suction is applied from the bottom
of the bed. The heat travels down the bed and sintering continues. By the time
the material reaches the discharge end, the whole mass is sintered.
The sinter passes through a Sinter Breaker, Hot Sinter Screen, Screen Cooler and
Cold Sinter Screens. The various fractions used are as follows:
For Blast Furnace
+25 mm and +6 to -16 mm
For Hearth Layer
+16 to -25 mm
Return Fines
-6 mm (Re-circulated in sinter plant itself
)
Return Fines
-5 mm (from the BF to RMHP bed)

Special
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

features of the new Sinter Machine

Computerised control of operation.
Fool proof de-dusting and ventilation facilities.
High Chromium Grate Bar (27-29% Cr)
Spring loaded Sealing System
Combined Mixing and Nodulising Drum
Base blending and raw material preparation.

Blast furnace:
A blast furnace is an essential part of an integrated steel plant. Blast furnace
converts the raw materials (viz. iron ore, coke and sinter) into pig iron. Pig
iron in turn acts as the raw material for steel making in SMS. The coke serves a
s the heat source and reducing agent while limestone and dolomite in sinter act
as flux which combines with unwanted materials in iron ore (known as gangue) to
form slag. A blast furnace is called so because it uses blast as oxygen source f
or the furnace.
The air blown into the blast furnace is preheated in order to increase the effic
iency of the furnace. The air is enriched with oxygen and is preheated in stoves
. There are 4 blast furnaces in DSP and each of them has 3 stoves.
The raw materials are changed into the furnace from the top in the required prop
ortions and preheated air from the stoves is blown through a number of symmetric
ally located openings in the bosh region of the furnace know as Tuyeres. The red
ucing gases rise up through the descending burden. The descending raw materials
take about 10- 12 hours to descend and get smelted; the ascending gases take a f
ew seconds to rise through the descending column. This gas is called BF gas and
has high calorific value and is used as fuel in many parts of the plant. Before
using this gas as fuel, this has to be cleaned and for this purpose a Gas Cleani
ng plant is also located near the Blast Furnace Area. The cleaned gas is sent to
the coke ovens, BF stoves, Sinter Plant, Soaking Pits and Reheating Furnace of
mills.
Gas Cleaning Plant (GCP):
The gas coming out of the furnace has a calorific value of about 850 kcal/ NM3.
It contains 25-27 gm/NM3 of dust and unless the gas is cleaned, it cannot be use
d for heating purpose. The cleaning is done in stages. On the first stage the ga
s is subjected to a sudden expansion in the primary dust catcher and in the seco
nd stage in the secondary dust catcher the gas is given a cyclonic motion. The g
as coming out contains dust about 5-7 gm/NM3 of gas.
This is sent to gas washers. The gas is counter currently washed with water. The
gas leaving the washers has a dust content of about 0.5 gm/M3 and then enters a
set of electrostatic precipitators. The gas leaving the ESPs has a dust content
of about 9-11 mg/M3.
The dust laden water coming out of the gas washer and Electrostatic Precipitator
is taken to Dor Clarifiers, cooled and re-circulated. The slurry is taken to sl
ag bank,
Number of precipitators
12
Number of Dor thickeners
6
Number of Washers
8
The details of the four furnaces in the plant are as follows:
No.1
No.2
No.3
Capacity (tonne/day)
1250
1820
1820
2340
Useful Volume (m3)
1323
1400
1400
1800
Stoves
3
3
3
3
Productivity
1.0
3
1.3
1.3
*Blast Furnace number 1 is currently down (since 06/08/2002)
Steel Melting Shop Complex
BOF (Basic Oxygen Plant)

No.4

1.

Here hot metal (liquid iron as obtained from Blast Furnace) is converted into st
eel by Basic Oxygen Process or LD process.

Merchant Mill
Merchant mill was commissioned in the year 1961 with an installed capacity of 24
0,000 TPA (Tonnes per Annum). It was modernised in1992 to have a capacity of 280
,000 TPA of plain rounds and Thermo Mechanically Treated (TMT) ribbed bars. The
products of Merchant Mill are plain rounds and TMT ribbed bars of sizes 12, 14,
16, 18, 20, 22, 25, 28, 32 mm. Now, however, most commonly rolled sections are T
MT: 16 - 28mm and Plain Round: 20 - 28mm.
Billets of 100 mm2 and 9 m long from Billet Mill and CCP are stacked quality wis
e in the billet stock yard. They are then transferred by cranes to a separating
skid table which automatically depiles batches of billets into a single layer to
enable them to be charged into the reheating furnace. The separating skid mecha
nism consists of stationary and power operated carry-over skids arranged to prod
uce a cascade effect which separates and depiles the billets and places them on
the furnace charging table. A hydraulically operated billet turnover and discard
device is provided to enable defective billets to be rejected into adjacent bin
s and turning the billet faces as per requirement. A ram charger pushes the bill
ets into the furnace.
The reheating furnace is a two-zone type arranged for side charging and discharg
ing. It is designed for an output of 70 TPH. The fuel is CO gas of CV 3000 BTU/C
u ft. The air air for combustion is preheated in Metallic recuperator. Billets p
laced in the furnace are pushed across the hearth by means of an electrically dr
iven Cross Pusher mounted independently outside the furnace.
The reheating furnace is a two-zone type arranged for side charging and discharg
ing. It is designed for an output of 70 TPH. The fuel is CO gas of CV 3000 BTU/C
u ft. The air for combustion is preheated in metallic recuperator. Billets place
d in the furnace are pushed across the hearth by means of an electrically driven
Cross Pusher mounted independently outside the furnace.
Billets discharged from the furnace are delivered to the 1st mill stand by pushout bar. A pair of pinch rolls is located adjacent to the furnace to pull out an
d feed the billets into the 1st mill stand. Between the pinch roll and 1st mill
stand, a pendulum shear is located so as to cut the front end of the billets int
o the first mill stand. Between the pinch rolls is located adjacent to the furna
ce to pull out and feed the billets into the 1st mill stand. Between the pinch r
oll and first mill stand, a pendulum shear is located so as to cut the front end
s of the billets. The mill consists of 13 horizontal stands (Roughing, Intermedi
ate and Finishing). Roughing mill consists of the first 7 stands, while the inte
rmediate and finishing mill consists of next four and last two stands respective
ly.
In between 7th and 8th stand, a crop-cum-cobble shear is provided to cut front e
nds of all the rolled stocks passing out of 7th stand. This Crop-cum-cobble shea
r is provided to cut front end of all the rolled stocks passing out of 7th stand
. This Crop-cum-cobble shear is also used for cutting the rolled stock into piec
es in case cobble is formed in the intermediate and finishing mill.
Four 180o Repeaters are provided between stands 9 and 14 (there is no 13th stand
in the mill). These repeaters are provided to reduce the overall length of the
mill.
Stand No.
Dri
ve
3, 4 & 5
400 HP DC motor
1 & 2, 6 to 9
500

HP DC motor
10 & 11

00 HP DC motor
12 & 14
8
00 HP DC motor
After the finishing mill three Thermax Carriages are situated. These Thermax car
riages (2nd & 3rd) are meant for spraying water at high pressure at the rolled b
ar as they can pass through them. This way the finished rod receives a short but
intense cooling, resulting in the formation of a tempered martensitic structure
surrounding the ferrite-pearlite core. The resulting material acquires high str
ength combined with toughness and ductility. The technology utilises the benefit
of self-tempering of the bars by the heat of cores.
Alter Thermax Carriages a rotary shear is provided which cuts the rod into the p
redetermined lengths which are then accommodated in the cooling beds. From the c
ooling beds, the bars go on to Bar Shears where each rod is cut into specified l
engths as desired by the customers. Automatic Bundling & Binding Unit is the las
t section in the mill having state of the art Automated Binding Machines. In thi
s section the bars are packed and bound into neat bundles that are stacked secti
on and quality wise in the despatch bays.
Apart from conventional rolling, Slit Rolling is also done in the Merchant Mill.
In slit rolling, the billets are slit longitudinally into 2 parts at 11th stand
. In conventional rolling, only one rod is obtained from a billet while in slit
rolling, we get two rods parallel from a single billet. Slit rolling is practise
d from sections from 12mm to 16 mm and conventional rolling for higher sections.
For slit rolling the size of the input billets need not be changed to lower sec
tion.
Wheel and axle plant is a special feature of Durgapur Steel Plant. Till recently
, it was only plant in the public sector which produced Wheel Sets. The main cus
tomer of wheel sets is Indian Railways, although the wheel sets are exported to
various other countries also.

Wheel & Axle Plant

Wheel and axle plant was commissioned in 1962 with a capacity to produce 45000 s
ets per year. Subsequently, its capacity was raised further to 76000 sets/ year.
The Wheel & Axle Plant has undergone a massive modernisation in early 90s. The
present capacity of the plant is as follows:
Capacity (Wheels)
: 42000 Tonnes/ annum
Capacity (Axles)
: 16000 Tonnes/ annum
Total plant capacity
: 58000 Tonnes/ annum
In Wheel & Axle Plant of DSP, wheels are produced by pressing and rolling while
axles are produced by forging. Subsequently, both are heat treated and machined.
For the ease of production, wheel manufacturing section and axle manufacturing
sections are located in two different bays. Tested wheel and tested axles finall
y meet in the assembly section.
Raw materials for Wheel Plant:
The raw material for wheel is the 12 sided fluted bottom poured steel ingots of
diameter 16 and 14 .
The Wheel Plant has the following stages/ equipments:
Rough Shaping of wheel
Heat treatment
Testing
Machining

Axle Plant:
The raw material is the square bloom rolled in Blooming Mill. The Axle Plant has
the following stages/ equipments:
Shaping of axle
Heat treatment
Testing
Machining
Assembly of wheels and axles is done so as to obtain an interference between the
wheel seat of the axle and bore of the wheel (one mm/ meter diameter of wheel s
eat).
After the assembly, the set is checked for its track gauge. The wheel seat is ch
ecked for warping of the wheel, if developed at the time of mounting. Assembled
seats are finally inspected by Rail India Technical and Engineering Services (RI
TES) and certified OK before dispatch. All the sets are printed to avoid seasona
l corrosion and greased to avoid any damage during transportation.