Editorial Board Advisors

Dr. H. S. Maity, Director, CGCRI

Prof. S.K. Sarangi, Director, NIT, Rourkela

Prof. N.K.Mitra, Ex-Professor, Science College, Kolkata

Mr.M.K.De, Sr Vice President, Adhunik Metaliks Ltd, Rourkela

Mr S.R.Talwar, Executive Director, Bhushan Power & Steel

MR S K Bhattacharya, DGM(RED), VSP, Visakhapatnam

VOL : 1 July2008

OCL India Refractory Newsletter Horizon

Issue No. 08/02

From Editor’s Penthe boom in the Indian refractory industry is visible. The unprecedented growth leading to massive invest-ment in Infrastructure is finally taking shape. This is apparently reflected in the new highs in steel manufacturer and spurt of new investments in green field projects, especially in mineral rich states. Indian Steel imports have regis-tered a jump of 31% to 10.5 MT in 2007-08 from 8.5 MT in 06-07. With the International Iron and Steel Institute (IISI) fore-casting another strong year for the steel industry, the prospects of refractory industry bottom line looks bluer in next 3 years. Steel production for 2009 is projected to be 1278 million tons, a growth of 6.3% over ’07-08. The BRIC countries will once again lead the growth brigade with an expected increase of 11.1% for ’08 and 10.3% for ’09.For India forecasts for apparent steel use point to an increase of 8.9% in 108 to in ’08 to 12.1 in 2009. The refractory industry has kept up with the growth momen-tum in spite of spiraling prices of magnesia, BFA, Baux-ite, and SiC. OCL Refractory has finished with 72398 MT for a turnover of 219 Cr–a growth of 32%. Significant up gradation of capacity and technology for High Alumina, Black Refractories; Castables has augmented the exist-ing facilities to a new high of 106,400 tons annually. 2008-09 looks promising with new targets, new prod-ucts in new areas. With new countries being conquered with our products, OCL refractory is orbiting its way with Indian Refractory Industry into the fast lane of eco-nomic superiority. Watch this space. Sk. Bashir Mohammed

Phenolic resin with pitch / tar used as a binder for making carbon containing refractories. When these refractories are put into service, it generates very toxic fumes / gas containing polycyclic aromatic (PAC) such as benzo – alpha – pyrenes (BAP) etc.

In order to overcome to this toxic gases eco – friendly resins are now developed which are used in MgO – Graphite, Al2O3 – Si – C and blast furnace tap hole mixes. The resin is a thermo set polymer type and produces co2 & water vapor in use. Antioxidants metals powder like Al, Si, Mg, Ca, Al + Si alloys, Ti + Al alloys etc are used to prevent the oxidation of carbon and forms dense metallic carbide in the bricks & protect the evolution of toxic gases.

Eco Friendly Resins

Techno-Friendly : Materials and Technology

LETTER FROM PRESIDENT

Dear Customer,OCL Refractory has sailed through the last six

decades and reached to what it is today mainly from interactions and learning from shop floor at custom-ers end with their active and splendid support. Flow of information from customer’s sides has made a huge difference to the evolution of refractory prod-ucts through development, joint working, and lots of sharing of real life challenges. Today, we are in a much better position to address our customers’ requirements effectively and speedily. With this view the Newsletter from our editorial desk is a fresh approach and a timely one. We hope to reach new heights of caring and sharing with our customers with this endeavour. We are grateful to all our customers for standing by us through these years. R. H. Dalmia

Techno-Friendly : Materials and Technology

Phenolic resin with pitch / tar used as a binder for making carbon containing refractories. When these refractories are put into service, it generates very toxic fumes / gas containing polycyclic aromatic (PAC) such as benzo – alpha – pyrenes (BAP) etc.

In order to overcome to this toxic gases eco-friendly

Eco Friendly Resins

Editors : Sk. Bashir Mohammed, Utkal Garg, Indranil Roy, Ashok Sahu

Content Coordinators : B. Prasad, Arun Sau

In order to overcome to this toxic gases eco – friendly resins are now developed which are used in MgO–Graphite, Al2O3–Si–C and blast furnace tap hole mixes. The resin is a thermo set polymer type and produces CO2 & water vapor in use. Antioxidants metals powder like Al, Si, Mg, Ca, Al-Si alloys, Ti-Al alloys etc are used to prevent the oxidation of carbon and forms dense metallic carbide in the bricks & protect the evolution of toxic gases.

WHATS INSIDETechno-friendly…OCL Newsmakers…Overseas AdventuresHot & Happening…Special feature: Hot MetalDephosphorization& Googly!

resins are now developed which are used in MgO-Graphite, Al2O3–Si–C and blast furnace tap hole mixes. The resin is a thermo set polymer type and produces CO2 & water vapor in use. Antioxidants metals powder like Al, Si, Mg, Ca, Al-Si alloys, Ti-Al alloys etc are used to prevent the oxidation of carbon and forms dense metallic carbide in the bricks & protect the evolution of toxic gases.

Page 1 of 4

Major factors responsible for defects in steel products

» Mould powder properties w.r.t heat transfer

» High heat flux-temp difference inlet & out let cooling water

» Faster solidification of strand shell

Googly

Did you imagine for a moment also as to steel making through electric route beating hands down the big integrated steel players? If not, then you are in for a crude shock. Out of total steel output, a whopping 56.3% comes out through Electric route and rest through BF-BOF route. Out of 56.3% a surprisingly 22.7% output is from unorganized sector of Sponge Iron-Induction Furnace process. Who cares if India suffers from Power Shortage and per capita power consumption is one of the lowest ?

Overseas AdventuresOCL products continued its overseas momentum for second year in succession registering remarkable growth in Silica, High Alumina, Basic, CC refractories, Castables, Precast and Purging Plugs, Slide gates. The growth story is represented in the adjoining figure.

New materials for the Purging Plugs

New material based on Al2O3, Cr2O3 and ZrO2 in com-posite form have been developed for purging plugs. Its chemical composition consists of Alumina and Alumina Chromia solid solution results in improved resistance against the attack of FeO containing slag compared to alumina – silica. The formation of solid solutions between alumina and Chromia accelerates the sintering process that forms strongly sintered ceramics with high strength.

56.8

37.0

7.4

102.0

4.4 2.7

104.1

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

silica Concastrefractories

Precast High Alumina Basic burnt MgO-C Slide plate

Products

% G

row

th

Product wise Growth % in export market in 07-08 over last year in OCL

Techno-Friendly : Materials and Technology

Phenolic resin with pitch / tar used as a binder for making carbon containing refractories. When these refractories are put into service, it generates very toxic fumes / gas containing polycyclic aromatic (PAC) such as benzo – alpha – pyrenes (BAP) etc.

In order to overcome to this toxic gases eco – friendly resins are now developed which are used in MgO–Graphite, Al2O3–Si–C and blast furnace tap hole mixes. The resin is a thermo set polymer type and produces CO2 & water vapor in use. Anti-oxidants metals powder like Al, Si, Mg, Ca, Al-Si alloys, Ti-Al alloys etc are used to prevent the oxidation of carbon and forms dense metallic carbide in the bricks & protect the evolution of toxic gases.

Eco Friendly Resins

Anti clogging nozzles prevents alumina clogging

It is observed that in SEN alumina build up in the bore wall is a unique phenomenon while casting low carbon Al-killed steel. As a result longer sequence terminates in a shorter length. Clogging takes place due to incom-plete elimination of solid inclusions suspended in liquid steel. Alumina particles along with other non-metallic inclusions slowly & continuously started building up to inner wall initially. This brings a disturbance of steel flow & causes unstable operation. Alumina particles of few micron size which have not been absorbed by ladle/tundish/mould slag hardly effects the steel qual-ity but larger agglomerates adhere to nozzle peels off from the nozzle bore causes problem by bringing many defects in cast products.

» Less residence time of steel in tundish. It delays the inclusion to float to the surface

» Short-circuit steel flow in tundish due to absence of flow controller

» Poor quality of tundish flux. It does not absorb inclusions

» Defect in design of tundish flow controller. This does not suppress the turbulence in tundish

» Improper argon injection through stopper. Creates uneven purging to SEN bore. Brings meniscus fluctuation

» Higher erosion of tundish spray or boards. Inclusion level goes up

» Oxygen, air pickup in steel

» Alumina buildup in SEN

» Higher erosion in SEN

OCL NEWSMAKERS…Handshake: with an eye on the future

In a path breaking ceremony on 31st May 2008 OCL entered into an MOU with CGCRI, Kolkata, for advance research in refractories. The documents were exchanged between Dr. H.S.Maity, Director, CGCRI, Dr. B.K.Panda, Director, DISIR and Shri J.N.Tiwari, ED (Refractory Works), OCL. This industry-institute inter-face will promote fundamental research in refractory materials, advance material composites, reaction mechanism studies etc. which will strengthen OCL with cutting edge technology in near future.

New Generation SG Mechanism

In order to negotiate well the changing pattern of steel teeming OCL is on the verge of introducing in India market, a new generation mechanism for slide gate operation. This is a radically new design that is operat-ing effectively in USA, France, Canada and Japan. It has been developed in collaboration with TYK, Japan. TYK has standardized this system with the help of Nippon steel and JFE Engineering.

The system will modify the steel teeming in many ways as follows :

» Higher stroke length with off center bore will lead to higher plate life (3–4 times from existing)

» Low maintenance and less preparation time owing to its small and compact system will reduce ladle turnaround time, which will improve productivity as well as reduce thermal shock due to faster circulation

» High flexibility of the system

» Modified design of spigot will minimize chances of metal penetration in between plates

But to keep the thermal shock resistance up ZrO2 – containing materials are added which acts as crack arrestor or by creating relatively porous microstructure in the ceramic body itself. Field trails with segments of 1st generation Al2O3–Cr2O3 – ZrO2 were performed and showed significant reduced wear rate compared to Alumina – mullite segments.

Carbon free anti-clogging nozzles are available to prevent this problem. The nozzle has very dense texture with very fine pore size distribution in the bore configuration. Fine dense texture prevents the deposi-tion of alumina and keeps the bore clean during casting process.

New Generation SG MechanismOCL products continued its overseas momentum for second year in succession registering remarkable growth in Basic, CC refractories, Castables, Precast Purging Plugs and Slide gates. The growth story is of CC refractory is represented in the adjoining figure. The picture shows OCL bagging the special export award for year 2006-07 from CAPEXIL (Ministry of Commerce-GOI) in a glittering ceremony in New Delhi, from Union minister for Commerce Sri Kamal-nath.

» Mould geometry-concave & its angle, taper of narrow face

» Oscillation parameters w.r.t. negative strip time

Compiled by Dr. J.K.Sahu

Page 2 of 4

Googly ! ! !Did you imagine for a moment also as to steel making through electric route beating hands down the big integrated steel players? If not, then you are in for a crude shock. Out of total steel output, a whopping 56.3% comes out through Electric route and rest through BF-BOF route. Out of 56.3% a surprisingly 22.7% output is from unorganized sector of Sponge Iron-Induction Furnace process. Who cares if India suffers from Power Shortage and per capita power consumption is one of the lowest ?

New Generation SG Mechanism

OCL products continued its overseas momentum for second year in succession registering remarkable growth in Basic, CC refractories, Castables, Precast Purging Plugs and Slide gates. The growth story is of CC refractory is represented in the adjoining figure. The picture shows OCL bagging the special export award for year 2006-07 from CAPEXIL (Ministry of Commerce-GOI) in a glittering ceremony in New Delhi, from Union minister for Commerce Sri Kamalnath.

04-05 05-06 06-07 07-08Year

1.05.3

0.05.0

10.015.020.025.030.035.0

Growth Index of CC in Export Market

Growth

Index

15.7

31.0

Steel Industry: Hot & Happening…………..

As per the Credit Suisse Supreme remarks in reports IISI Economic Committee in March 2008 there are a lot more room for steel consumption per capita to increase further. Current global steel demand of 200

kg per capita per annum is expected to reach 300 kg in next 20 years. Steel consumption for ex-China coun-tries is expected to grow at 4 – 4.5 % for the next few years, while demand growth in China is likely to reach 10 –15 % for the same period.

Credit Suisse has further forecast that global steel production would reach 1.7 billion tons in 2012. China will be producing almost 700 million tons by 2012, while its domestic demand will reach 667 – 762 million tons. Countries in ex-China will produce up to 1.06 billion tons and demand would reach 985 million tons in 2012. The same year global steel demand could exceed 1.7 billion tons. In a normal situation, a signifi-cant over capacity scenario is unlikely to happen in next few years.

Arcelor Mittal -world’s largest steel maker has planned to team up the state owned PT Areka Tambang, PT Krakatau steel of Indonesia to put up a steel plant and develop mines at an investment of at US$3 billion. Kalimantan is the location considered for its proximity to mineral reserves. Antam will facilitate the sourcing of iron ore, nickel and manganese.

Japan over took China to become the world’s largest exported of steel, since loosing it in April 2006. Japan’s export in Feb’08 were 3.44 Million ton against China’s 2.85 million tons.

The JFE Holdings will begin a feasibility study in con-structing Blast Furnace in Brazil via a joint venture with a view to cut costs in the ore rich country. Under the JV with South Korea’s Dongkuk Steel Mill Co. and Brazil-ian iron – ore major Vale. JFE will build two blast furnaces in the states of Ceara for turning out 5–6 million tons of steel per year.

Nippon Steel Corporation and Arcelor Mittal has reached a final agreement to build automotive steel works in US state of Indiana. The investment worth $ 240 Million, though a JV will double its output to 1 million ton in 2010.

POSCO Engineering and Construction Co. – a construc-tion arm of 4th largest steel maker has signed 2 deals worth US $ 1.3 billion to build two plants in Chile at Antofagasta and Ventanas. Construction of two 270 MW and 520 MW power plants are scheduled to begin in June-08.

Korea’s crude steel capacity will climb by 4.5 % and reach around 59.82 Million Ton in 2008, up from 57.23 Million ton in 2007.

Arcelor Mittal is conducting a feasibility study for an integrated steel plant in Thailand with annual capacity of 2.25 Million Ton. Nippon Steel and JFE from Japan and Bao Steel from China are also queuing up for setting production unit here.

China’s first quarter crude steel output rose 8.6% year on year. This shows the output in first quarter to 124.84 Million Ton as per the data from China’s National Bureau of statistics. The crude steel output is expected to be with 540 Million ton – a 10% increase from last year, so far as the first quarter is concerned.

Indian Steel ScenarioWith domestic demand for steel shooting up by more than 12% and no additional capacities in view, the demand – supply mismatch is likely to continue up to 2010. While demand is shooting up by 12.5 % annu-ally, the supply is lagging at 5%. Indian import of Iron and Steel products jumped by 31% in the fiscal up to March’ 08. China was the largest foreign supplier. In 2006-07, India imported 8 Million Tons, but this rose to 10.5 Million ton in 2007-08.

» Higher stroke length with off center bore will lead to higher plate life (3–4 times from existing)

» Low maintenance and less preparation time owing to its small and compact system will reduce ladle turnaround time, which will improve productivity as well as reduce thermal shock due to faster circulation

» High flexibility of the system

» Modified design of spigot will minimize chances of metal penetration in between plates

Page 3 of 4

Effect Of Dephosphorization Of Hot Metal OnSteelmaking

The hot metal pre-treatment method, where hot metal is dephosphorized prior to refining in a converter, was actively put into practice in the 1980’s by the major steelmakers of Japan in order to meet customers’ requirements for lower phosphorous content in steel products, while reducing slag generation and increas-ing the iron yield. However, dephosphorization by this method is still insufficient.

A thorough investigation by NKK revealed that lower-ing the Si content in the hot metal to an ultimate level-leads to a dramatic improvement in the efficiency of lime for dephosphorization. Based on this finding, open-ladle-type desiliconization station was installed at Fukuyama Works in March 1998, for the first time

Back home this process has been installed at JSW, Hospet where Desiliconization and Dephosphorization operations are being conducted in 130-ton ladles since September 07. The process is nearing stabilization. The process utilizes a top lance of massive design manufactured by OCL for the first time in India. CaC2 powder is being injected to get a targeted P of 0.02% from 0.12% levels & Si form 0.8% to 0.2% in a two-stage treatment sequence. The lances started with a life of 300-550 minutes life has now risen with the increase in number of treatments to a level of 1000-1400 minutes. 1460 minutes is the highest life obtained so far.

Special Feature: Hot Metal Pretreatment

Your comments and suggestions may please be sent to bmohammed@ocl.inPublished by the Editorial board. The views expressed in the newsletter are not necessarily of OCL man-agement and they are not responsible for the same. Please visit us at www.ocl.in

the world (Fig 1). The Si content of the hot metal was minimized before dephosphorization, improving the efficiency of lime for dephosphorization. Moreover, slag generation through the entire steelmaking process was successfully lowered to an ultimate level. The phos-phorous content of the steel was lowered to the level of the final product specification while still in the hot metal stage, and slag generation during dephosphori-zation in the converter was nearly eliminated. There-fore, this technology was named the ZSP (Zero Slag Process) and deployed at Keihin Works as well in May of the same year, expanding the application of this process company-wide.

The slag generation of more than 100 kg /ton of steel, was decreased by half (Fig. 2). The slag generated in the converter dropped to less than 10 kg/ton.

Indian Steel Scenario

With domestic demand for steel shooting up by more than 12% and no additional capacities in view, the demand – supply mismatch is likely to continue up to 2010. While demand is shooting up by 12.5 % annu-ally, the supply is lagging at 5%. Indian import of Iron and Steel products jumped by 31% in the fiscal up to March’ 08. China was the largest foreign supplier. In 2006-07, India imported 8 Million Tons, but this rose to 10.5 Million ton in 2007-08.

Fig. 1 ZSP process flow at NKK’s Fukuyama Works

Fig. 2 Effect of ZSP on Slag Generation

Fig. 1ZSP process flow at NKK’s Fukuyama Works

Page 4 of 4