Steel is made in the Steel Melting Shop by blowing oxygen through the hot metal bath. The
oxygen reacts with the carbon in the hot metal and this reaction releases large quantities of gas, rich
in CO along with huge amount of dust. The gases released from the converter are collected, cooled,
cleaned and recovered for use as fuel in the steel plant. It was informed to us that 100% continuous
casting on such a large scale has been conceived for the first time in India.
The cast blooms from continuous casting department are heated and rolled in the two high
speed and fully automated rolling mills namely Light & Medium Merchant Mill (LMMM) and Medium
Merchant & Structural Mill (MMSM). The billets produced in LMMM are further rolled in Bar Mill/
Wire Rod Mill (WRM). The finished products include wire rods & long products like reinforcement
bars, rounds, squares, flats, angles, channels, billets, etc. Loopers are provided in between the
finishing stands for tension free rolling for good surface quality. Housings are of closed-top type. There
are evaporating cooling systems in the rolling mill furnaces and we were quite surprised to see that
the rolling mills are entirely computerized.
During our visit to Araku Valley, we had an opportunity of observing the existing power
distribution system in that area, in particular, the mechanical design of overhead lines. From a
distance, we could observe the conductors, line suppo