Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is actively participating in making a self-reliant India. It recently organized a webinar through its IISCO Steel Plant, Burnpur with domestic Refractories manufactures from various regions to explore the opportunities for enhancing domestically manufactured refractory usage in integrated steel plants both in terms of quality and quantity. A substantial quantity of imported refractory is currently used in the steel plant operations in India. This webinar was aimed at shifting the focus from imported refractory to domestically manufactured refractory. Keeping this in view, the webinar titled ‘Refractories in Integrated Steel Plants: Opportunities and Challenges for Domestic Manufacturers’ was attended by all steel plants of SAIL as well as large number of domestic refractory manufacturers. Refractories are essential materials used by the steel industry in the internal linings of blast furnaces and converters used for steel making, in vessels for holding and transporting metals, in furnaces for heating steel before further processing etc.
In a bid to maximize domestically produced refractories, SAIL is taking several initiatives. The government’s thrust on Atmanirbhar Bharat is an opportunity for the domestic refractory manufacturers and can mutually benefit the domestic steel industry. During the webinar, it was stressed that this is an opportunity for domestic refractory manufacturers to cater to the domestic requirements. For this, they will have ample opportunity to invest in R&D and develop alternate refractory products for which SAIL will give the platform for trial. In the webinar, the current & future requirements for refractory products and challenges faced by integrated steel plants in adopting indigenous refractory products were discussed at length. This platform was aimed at providing a mutual platform for exploring each other’s requirements so as to realize the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat and promote the concept of ‘vocal for local’.
