Challenges to the growth of Indian Steel industry

Transcription

1 Challenges to the growth of Indian Steel industry R. C Gupta 1 and O. P Sinha 2 1 Former Professor and 2 Associate Professor Dept of Metallurgical Engineering Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi rcgupta.bhu@gmail.com Abstract Indian steel industry is poised to grow from its current production of nearly 80 million ton steel to about 200 million ton steel by the end of Many new projects have been approved by the government of India both as green field and brown field projects which may account for more than 300 million tons. The modest 50% realisation of the proposed plants may help in achieving the national steel target in However, these new projects along with the existing projects may have to overcome many challenging issues concerning steel industry. Amongst several issues, the problems posed by land availability, water shortage and scarcity of R & D manpower are discussed in this paper. Further, the new environmental laws are likely to increase plant maintenance cost affecting the finished steel cost against global competition. This paper attempts to draw attention towards some of these emerging challenges and wishes to suggest initiation of in-house R & D to find solution to some of the problems in a given time frame. The R & D topics like "Dry Methods of Ore Fines Beneficiation", "Preparation of Composite Reduced Fluxed Pellets", "Use of Higher Quantity of Coal Injection in Blast Furnace", "Substitution of Coal Injection in Blast furnace by Biomass", "Studies on Minimisation of use of water in steel plant". "Studies on the Design and Layout of Steel Plant Equipment with aim to minimise Floor Area", etc are some of the subjects which needs attention. Unfortunately with diminishing interest in Ferrous Metallurgy Research activity by academic and R & D organisations, the efforts may have to be initiated by the steel industry themselves for their own benefit. This would require a much closer interaction between Steel Industries, R & D Institutes and Academic Organisations to have fruitful solutions in a given time frame. Key words: Indian Steel Industry, Steel Plant, Land Need, Water Requirement, Human Resource, Environmental Laws 14

2 1.0 Introduction The Indian steel industry beginning in early 20 th century made a modest growth in nearly 50 years to reach 1 Million Ton (MT) steel production in 1950 by three private sector units at Tatangar (TISCO), Burnpur (IISCO) and Bhadrawati (MISCO). The Indian steel industry began to grow after the emergence of public sectors plants at Bhilai, Bokaro, Rourkela and Durgapur in 1960's. These integrated steel plants were based on conventional method of steel making route through blast furnace iron making. The emergence of sponge iron technology in 1970's to make iron using non-coking coal followed by electric arc furnace steel making, led to sudden growth in steel production capacity in India. The growth rate of steel industry in India is shown in Figure-1. Steel Production, million tons 100 Growth of Steel Production in India Figure-1 : Growth of Indian Steel Industry Steel, million ton / year India as 4th Largest World Steel Producer in China 88.6 Japan USA 76.7 India 70.6 Russia 69.3 S Korea 42.7 Germany 35.9 Turkey 34.7 Brazil 32.9 Ukraine Figure-2 : Global status of Indian steel industry in 2012 This growth rate of Indian steel industry has provided it a position of fourth largest steel producer [1] in the world (figure 2) which may look satisfying. The share of major steel producers in India are indicated in figure 3. However, when the steel production is compared [2] with neighbouring country China, a different scenario (figure 4) is projected which is difficult to explain on the basis of raw material availability and other associated issues. This wide gap in steel production between China and India may be reduced if Indian steel production reached 200 MT by 2020 as visualised by Ministry of Steel, GOI [3]. 15

3 DRI Based Plants 30% Scrap Based Plants 7% SAIL 17% RINL 5% TATA, JSW,ISPAT ETC 41% 78% Private & 22% Public Sector Steel Producers in India Steel, million ton / year Rate of Steel Production in China and India India China Fig.-3 Major steel producers in India Fig.-4 Growth of Chinese Steel Industry Table-1 MoU Signed for Establishing New Steel Plants in India during States Odisha Jharkhand Chhattisgarh West Bengal Karnataka Andhra Pradesh Other States Total No of MoU Signed Steel Capacity, million ton Source: Into the Furnace, GRP Project, CSE,Delhi, 2012,p21 Projected Steel Production, mt Figure 5 Road map of Indian steel Industry In the recent years various proposals for setting up steel Industry were made and some MoU.s were signed [4] by various state governments as presented in Table-1. These new steel plants have been proposed according to the vision of GOI to have enhanced steel production. These plants may give a road map of steel production as visualised [5] in Figure 5.

4 In light of nearly 80 MT steel production in 2012, India plans the production of 200 MT steel by This mission appears difficult if not impossible. In order to realise the target, the Indian steel industry has to pay concentrated efforts with full government cooperation to over come various challenges. 2.0 Challenges to the Growth of Steel Industry The steel industry is considered as back bone of any economy as it provides essential steel needed for nation development together with providing large scale job opportunities. This industry requires huge capital and availability of basic raw materials like iron ore and coal. Fortunately with developing Indian economy, the market has enough capital and the country has sufficient iron ore deposits. The major challenges facing the country to enhance its steel capacity can be listed as: i- Land ii- iii- iv- Water Manpower and Energy and Environmental Issues These issues are discussed very briefly in this paper to highlight its importance in creating further steel capacity within given timeframe. 3.0 Land Related Issues The steel plants are high capital projects and have to be planned with care keeping various factors in view. These could be listed as: i- Land Location ii- iii- 3.1 Land Location Land Size and Shape Infrastructure available near land Steel industry involves heavy material movements and the freight cost is an important component of the total product cost. The location of land will markedly affect the freight cost of materials movement. The steel plants based on BF-BOF route established before 1990, are located [6] near raw materials (iron ore and coal mines) as evident from Table-2. The change in policies of GOI in 1990's has opened up the possibility of imports of good quality low ash coals (coking and non-coking both) from other countries in the world. This has led to the establishment of many steel plants near iron ore mines as given in Table-3. All such plants are based on BF- BOF route. 17

5 Table 2 : Locations of Steel Plants near Iron Ore and Coal Mines Steel Plant/ Plant Location Iron Ore Source of Raw Materials km Coking Coal km Lime Stone km Tata Steel Jamshedpur Noamundi Gorumahisani Badampahar Sulaipat Jharia 180 Birmitrapur 180 IISCO, Burnpur Manoharpur 240 Jharia 65 Birmitrapur 320 SAIL, Rourkela Barsua 70 Jharia Bokaro 300 Birmitrapur SAIL Bhilai Dalli Rajhara 90 Jharia Kargali 740 Deorrghat 780 Nandini 20 SAIL Durgapur Bolani Barajamda 320 Jharia Barakar Birmitrapur 450 SAIL Bokaro Kiriburu 406 Jharia Source : R C Gupta, Energy & Environmental Management in Metallurgical Industries.,PHI, Delhi, 2012, p 211 ( DRI Production, million ton World India Year Figure 5 Growth in DRI plants in India (Source; 18

6 Table 3 : Location of Steel Plants established near iron ore using imported coal Steel Plant Name & Location JSW, Bellary POSCO, Paradip Cap. Million Ton / year Iron Ore 16 Bellary Hospet 12 Keonjhar Barbil km Sources of raw materials Coking Coal 40 Imported from W.V km 350 From port Imported 0, own port Non- Coking km Coal Imported 350 From port Imported 0, own port JSPL, Angul 7 Keonjhar 150 Imported 200 Talcher 20 Bhushan Steel, Dhenkanal, Orissa 5.6 Banspani Barbil Imported Coke 180 From port Talcher 20 Bhushan Power & Steel, Sambalpur Bhusan Steel & Strips, Dhenkanal Shyam Steel Bardhman 2.8 Banspani Barbil 3.1 Banspani Barbil 1.1 Banspani Barajamda Imported Coke Imported Coke 360 From port 360 From port 280 imported 120 From port Talcher 180 Patrapara - Jharia 40 Source : R C Gupta, Energy & Environmental Management in Metallurgical Industries.,PHI, Delhi, 2012, p 212 ( Figure 6 Sectors of large number of DRI based steel plants near iron ore mines (Source Down to Earth Jan 31, 2011) 19

7 This period of 1990's also has been a surge in growth of DRI plants (figure 5) due to economic emergence of non-coking coal based technology for iron making in the world [7]. The dependence on coking coal has made stress on the development of steel industry. Most of these DRI plants are located (figure 6) near iron ore mines [8] using non-coking coals either Indian or Imported. The future steel plants based on BF-BOF or DRI-EAF route need location in areas which has scope of providing land in view of various condition now being imposed by the government while considering project proposals. 3.2 Land used by Existing Steel Plants The figure 7 shows the land in hectare occupied by existing steel plants [9]. The land used by steel plants including township is shown together with only for steel plant Land Use ha/mtpa RINL Vizag SAIL Bhilai Neelachal Ispat SAIL Durgapur SAIL Rourkela SAIL Bokaro TATA Steel Jaiswal Neco Monet Ispat Plant with Town Plant Only 560 JSW Steel Visa Steel Jai Balaji JSPL Bhushan Sambal. Ispat Ind. Usha Martin 54 Essar Av. India Best Practice Figure 7 Use of land by existing steel plants in India with and without town Source Into the Furnace: The Life Cycle of the Indian Iron & Steel Industry, CSE, New Delhi, p 181. The steel plants being large manpower based unit, have to consider township while planning the plant. The figure 7 indicates that, the public sector plants (SAIL & RINL) are using nearly land at the rate of 1000 ha for every one million ton plant capacity, while the private sector steel plants based on BF-BOF route are using nearly ha land for similar steel capacity. This land requirement is further reduced to less than 100 ha when gas based DRI technology is adopted for 1 MT capacity unit. Considering the variety of units in India, the average land use of 560 ha for 1 mt steel plant is being used

8 against 150 ha for a global best unit. This land use in India becomes 1100 ha when township is included which far more than 200 ha for a global best unit. This present pattern of land use in India has enough scope of improvements as being already practiced by some plants in private sector. The lower land use would be the norm in future in view of limitation on land availability. 3.3 Land Availability and Government Conditions The land in India is owned by people and government both. India being largely agricultural based nation, a major part of the vital land is allocated to agriculture sector which is mostly owned by farmers big and small. In addition to agriculture various other land use pattern [10] is shown in figure 8 based on government survey in This land use pattern shows that, natural forest in India has been reduced very much down from expected 33% forest cover. The agricultural land is also being slowly utilised by expanding town ships and ever increasing industrial sector. The only land easily available is waste land which requires considerable effort and cost to develop for industrial use. Till recent years, industries were purchasing small land pieces from farmers to form a suitable land plot for developing the industry. Waterbodies 3% Others 2% Unsurveyed 3% Builtup 4% Wasteland 23% Agriculture 51% Forest 14% Figure 8 Land use pattern in India Source: R C Gupta, Energy & Environmental Management in Metallurgical Industries. PHI, Delhi, 2012, p-205 ( 21

9 Figure 9 Waste land availability in different Indian states (Source 22 Journal of Sustainable Planet State % AP Bihar 7.26 Chattisgarh 8.74 Goa Gujrat Haryana 5.31 Himachal J&K Jharkhand Karnatka 7.53 Kerala 6.33 Maharastra MP Orissa Punjab 2.02 Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu 7.02 UP 4.56 Uttaranchal WB 2.25 % is Waste land percent of total area In-order to stop the use of crop land for industrials use, the government of India [11] has identified 467 lakh hectares of wasteland (figure 9) across the country for industrial projects. The figure 9 shows that, the waste land availability in some Indian states, including Gujrat, Maharastra, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Karnatka and Tamilnadu, is below 5-10% which has greater scope of newer steel plants in view of long sea coast zone for easy import facility of raw materials (coking coal and fluxes). Recently, in the monsoon session 2013, the Indian parliament has passed the new land acquisition act replacing the Land Acquisition Act of The new act establishes rules for compensation as well as resettlement and rehabilitation. The most important feature of the Act is that the developers will need the consent of up to 80 per cent of people whose land is acquired for private projects and of 70 per cent of the landowners in the case of publicprivate partnership projects. These new developments of land availability and land acquisition rules will make land procurement a tough task. In addition to Land Acquisition Act, further conditions are imposed while considering the project layout which includes :

10 i- Land is sparingly populated, ii- iii- iv- Land is not notified as wild life sanctuary or reserved forest, The land does not contain any building or site of historic, architectural or religious importance, The land does not encroach any natural water bodies flowing to other areas, v- The land does not overlap with any national rail or road, vi- The land does not fall in highly polluted zone. etc. All these conditions further reduce the choice of land availability for large industry like steel plant. 3.4 Land Requirement for Future Steel Plants The land use by present steel plants (figure 7) gives an average 1000 ha land for one million ton steel capacity which led to use of ha land for 75 million ton steel capacity in The study [5] by CSE-Delhi gives an estimated demand of ha land by 2020 to produce 200 million ton steel (figure 10). This would mean an average land use of 450 ha / MT. This would be possible by planning newer plants using only ha / MT steel capacity. This efficient land use on the global pattern would need better plant layout and machine design by Indian steel Industry. Such use of lower land use may become the norm in future. Land Area, ha Land Needed for Steel Plants Figure 10 Estimated future land use by steel plants [5] Source: Study by CSE-Delhi, Down to Earth, June 1-15, 2012, p Land Shape and its Size The planning for steel plant in available land size may be affected, to some extents. The steel plants layout is generally prepared according to rail and road transportation facilities. Such rail and road layout planning require a suitable shape of the land provided as shown [12] in figure 11. The odd and poor shapes of land pieces available sometimes pose difficulty in plant layout.

11 Figure 11 Various good and poor shapes of land size for its plant layout Source: R C Gupta, Energy & Environmental Management in Metallurgical Industries.,PHI, Delhi, 2012, p 220 ( 3.6 Waste Land Development Cost The waste land made available may need considerable development in view of its topology as illustrated [13] in figure 12. This would increase land development cost and hence raise project cost. Such waste land may not have infrastructure like grid power or road connectivity which will further enhance project cost. Figure 12 Various types of possible land terrenes Source: R C Gupta, Energy & Environmental Management in Metallurgical Industries.,PHI, Delhi, 2012, p 219 ( 3.7 Plant Layout and Planning The land size available for steel plant has to accommodate its various components like different units of the plants, rail & road, power plant, storage yard for raw materials and finished goods, water storage & treatment, auxiliary units like workshop, foundry, gas plant etc., Administrative Buildings and above all statuary requirements like green belt. In addition to these basic needs, 24

12 some land may be acquired in the initial stage to have provision for expansion and modification. Figure 13 Land use pattern for planning steel plant in available land size Source: R C Gupta, Energy & Environmental Management in Metallurgical Industries.,PHI, Delhi, 2012, p 240 ( The figure 13 shows the spectrum of land use [14] by two steel plants using ha land per million ton steel capacity. This indicates that various facilities in the plant would need land which would depend on local conditions like land shape, terrene and technical details. An thumb rule planning would need the land for the following purposes : i % land for Green Belt (statuary requirement) ii- iii- iv % land for Plant Units 8-10% land for Power plant 5-7 % land for rail and road v- 3-4% land for water storage vi- 8-10% land for raw materials storage vii- viii- 2-3 % land for Administrative Building 5-6% land for Auxiliary Units All these would need a very good planning in the beginning stage while procuring the land for the plant. Looking into various aspects related to land, it may be concluded that, planning and procurement of land for steel plant offers many challenges which needs to be taken care of at various stages of setting up the plant. 4.0 Water Related Issues Water is an essential requirement for steel industry. It is needed for various applications such as: 25

13 i- Ore/Coal washing, ii- iii- iv- Coke Quenching, Cooling Hot Shells, Slag Granulation, v- Cooling Rolls and slabs during vi- vii- Hot Rolling and Power Plant Journal of Sustainable Planet Till recently water was not being considered as raw material and was assumed to be available in plenty from rivers, dams or underground sources. In recent times, due to water shortage from various sources attention is being made to its availability in quantity with quality. As we know, water sources are limited on this planet. The planet earth may have huge amount of water in sea (figure 14) but only 3% water [15] is usable on earth of which 2% water is not reachable as ice on poles. Less than 1% fresh water is available in ground and on surface of the earth. Thus, water is said to be limited and scarce on earth which must be used with care. Figure 14 : Availability of limited water on earth for use Source: R C Gupta, Energy & Environmental Management in Metallurgical Industries.,PHI, Delhi, 2012, p 3 ( Sp. Water Consumption, m 3 / tcs SAIL Burnpur SAIL Rourkela SAIL Bokaro SAIL Durgapur SAIL Bhilai Usha Martin RINL Vizag TATA Steel Plant Use Plant with Town Use Figure 15 : Water use by some Indian steel units for their plant and township Source Into the Furnace: The Life Cycle of the Indian Iron & Steel Industry, CSE, New Delhi, p JSW Steel JSPL Visa Steel Essar Steel Ispat Ind Av. India 5 2 Global Best

14 4.1 Water use by existing steel plants The existing steel plants use water in the plant and town both. The figure 15 shows the rate of water consumption for some units in India [16] against global best practice. This figure 15 indicates use of 2 m 3 water per ton of cast steel (without power plant) as a global best practice. This water use becomes 5 m 3 per ton of cast steel when township is included. The water use of Indian steel plant on the average is much higher, 3.5 m 3 and 11.3 m 3 per tcs (ton cast steel) for plant and township respectively. This suggests for immediate need to improve the water management practices. 4.2 Water Demand for future steel plants The study made by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)-Delhi on water demand in future [17] is depicted in figure 16 based on GRP (Green Rating Project) Report It shows that 700 million m3 water is used in for producing nearly 75 million ton steel which gives an average value of 9.3 m 3 water use per ton of cast steel. This is close to Indian average water consumption as given in Figure 15. In 2020 this water consumption is expected to increase by 2.2 times though the average water consumption rate may be brought down marginally to 8 m 3 water/tcs. This water demand may become five fold by This increasing demand of water by steel industry would pose a question what would be water source to meet this extra demand? However, the common source of water is either water reservoir or underground water Water Demand by Steel Industry 3400 Million m Figure 16 Expected water demand by future steel industry Source: Study by CSE-Delhi, Down to Earth, June 1-15, 2012, p51 27

15 4.3 Underground Water Source in India Figure 17 Underground Water Use Rate in India- A Satellite hydrological study Source: Irvine Calif. UCI, NASA, August 12, features/india_water. The underground water is recharged by natural source like rain and remain collected underground for use. In recent past this underground water has been found to be depleting very fast in various regions of India. A recent study [18] has revealed (figure 17) that the water table is receding due to more water discharge than it is charged by natural source during the span of a year. The states like Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana are becoming water deficit zones due to nearly 100% water discharged out from bore wells than its charge rate by nature. Gujrat and Tamilnadu also draw nearly 80% and are facing water crisis. In bigger states like UP and Karnatka, the discharge rate is nearly 50-60% and are close to becoming water deficit. However, the states like Maharastra, Madhya Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh are relatively better in respect of underground water due to less water discharge (30-40%)rate. The states like Odisha, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and north eastern states have more water due to very low (<20%) water discharge rate. This study indicates the possibility of having heavy industry like steel in southern India where underground water availability is relatively better. 28

16 4.4 Solutions to Meet Water Shortage The future water shortage problem can be augmented by two methods: a. Rain Water Harvesting both on the surface as well as recharging the aquifers as additional sources and b. Minimisation in water use by efficient management Rain Fall and Water Harvesting In view of the fact that, water is an essential item for steel industry and the underground water being mainly meant for domestic and agriculture purposes, it is necessary for the industry to go for rain water harvesting. The rain fall in India [19] varies from <200 to >4000 ml per year as shown in figure 18. India could be divided in to three zones with respect to rain fall. i- Heavy Rainfall between ml / year ii- iii- Moderate Rainfall between ml / year Scanty Rainfall between ml/ year Figure 18 The annual rain fall pattern in India (Source 29

17 i- Heavy Rainfall Regions (between ml / year): The Western Ghats, west coast of Maharashtra, Gujarat, and parts of Madhya Pradesh receive good rain from June to September months. These areas can easily adopt rain water harvesting system to solve water problem. ii- iii- Moderate Rainfall Regions (between ml / year): The north Indian plains generally get between 1000 to 2000 ml rains which is considered sufficient. Other areas of moderate rainfall are northeastern parts of Peninsular India, highlands of Central India, and Tamil Nadu. Rainfall between ml occurs in the upper Ganga Valley, eastern parts of Aravallis, eastern Gujarat, internal parts of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka Scanty Rainfall Regions (between ml/ year) :The parts of Punjab, Haryana, northern and western Rajasthan and Kachchh and Kathiawar regions of Gujarat receive less rain. The dry regions of Rajasthan, west of the Aravalli hills receives rainfall below 20 cm, Northern parts of Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir are other regions which receive scanty rainfall. A part of the annual rain water percolates down to recharge underground water but most of it flows back to sea through rivers. This excess water flowing back to sea should be harvested using modern technology and this can solve water shortage to a great extent for various industrial applications. However, this would need land and infrastructure for water reservoirs and appropriate technology to use it efficiently without loosing it again by natural evaporation. Incentives should be given to the industries to harvest rain water to meet most of their industrial requirements Minimisation in water use There is sufficient scope in cutting down the water use as depicted in figure 15 by adopting or modifying the technology such as: i- Development of dry methods of cleaning ore and coal ii- iiiiv- Dry coke cooling (CDQ) Development of efficient cooling systems Reduction in water wastage v- Recycling & treatment of water and vi- Water management systems These examples are only illustrative and not a complete list. There could be many areas in the plant and town to save water which needs to be developed under water management system. 30

18 5.0 Manpower Related Issues The manpower is an important part for any Industry or institution. All the activities are translated from plan to action by the manpower. The role of manpower spans from top management to operation of the plant equipment and other routine duties. This importance increases further with new challenges posed by raw material quality constrains, global economic competition and environmental laws now being enforced for sustained development. This requires sufficient number of manpower bearing specific qualifications with QUALITY. 5.1 Manpower Employed in Indian Steel Plants There is no state guideline to have suitable manpower in the Indian steel plants. Every unit employs workers according to it need and policy. The Table 4 presents some manpower [20] numbers for some steel plants obtained from their project details available in public domain. This reveals following points : i- The number of manpower in steel plants range from 1000 (min) to 5240 (max) per million ton of steel capacity of the plant ii- iii- The public sector steel plant use higher number of manpower than private sector The smaller units (below 0.3 mt) indicate more manpower for estimated 1 MT capacity may be due to multiplying common facility staff which actually do not increase much with capacity. Table 4 : Manpower employed in Indian Steel Plants Steel Plant and Location Capacity mtpa Man Power Total ~Men/ mtpa Remarks Technology for Steel Making POSCO, Paradip In progress BF-BOF JSW, Bellary In 1 st phase BF-BOF JSPL, Angul In progress BF-BOF Bhushan Steel, Meramandali In 1 st phase BF-BOF RSP-SAIL, Rourkela BF-BOF Shyam Steel, Bardhaman BF-BOF Jai Balaji, Bardhaman BF-BOF JSPL, Raigarh DRI-EAF GPIL, Siltara DRI-EAF OSIL, Keonjhar DRI-EAF Source: R C Gupta, Energy & Environmental Management in Metallurgical Industries.,PHI, Delhi, 2012, p 213 ( 31

19 5.2 Qualification and Specialization of Manpower Journal of Sustainable Planet The manpower working in the steel plant bears different qualifications ranging from highly qualified technical and managerial staff to shop floor worker who may not have any formal education. The figure 19 gives the spectrum of educational qualification [21] in a typical Indian steel unit compared to a unit in Korea. It may be observed that, Indian plants employ only 5% technical and professional staff compared to ~20% in Korean steel plant. The 80% operational staff posses diploma qualification compared with very less or no formal technical qualification by majority (~70%) Indian workers who are either illiterate or high school pass. The qualification of manpower bears a good relationship with the plant productivity, efficiency and safety. Steel Plant Work Force in India School Dropouts / Illiterate 38% Technical Grad.& Professional 5% Diploma & Equivalent. 9% Trade Apprentice 10% Steel Plant Work Force in Korea Gaduate & Above 21% High School 28% Non-Tech Gaduate & PG 10% Diploma & ITI 79% Figure 19 Qualification spectrum of manpower working in typical steel unit in India and Korea Source: R C Gupta, Energy & Environmental Management in Metallurgical Industries.,PHI, Delhi, 2012, p 216 ( 5.3 Role of Qualified Technical & Professional Manpower The role of qualified technical and professional manpower is identical to the functioning of brain in our body. These qualified technical graduates and professionals do planning, management and R & D for the industry. The compromise in their quantity and quality is going to reflect on the health of total industry. 5.4 Demand and Supply of Qualified Technical & Professional Manpower In India, there are large number of technical institutes including IIT's, NIT's, in private and public sectors which generate graduates with a wide spectrum of specialization. The total number of graduates generated by Indian academic institutes looks impressive but according to a recent assessment only a small percentage of these are employable. However, amongst good technical graduates only a few are attracted by the steel industry because of other offering job opportunities. 32

20 Currently we are using on an average manpower for one million ton steel capacity. If we wish to meet 2020 target of 200 million ton steel we may have to add 125 million ton steel capacity in next 5-8 years. Assuming that we increase our need for technical staff from present 5% to say 10% in view of modernization, then we will need minimum graduates (1000 men/mt capacity x 125 MT capacity x 10% Tech Graduate = graduates) of quality in next 5 years. The number of 2500 graduates per year demanded may not be high for India but getting the quality graduates and retaining them with industry may be a huge task. Amongst the demand for 2500 total graduates/year, the number of metallurgist (30-40%) demand may range from 750 to 1000 per year. In India, there are nearly 30 metallurgical teaching centre which generate approximately 1800 (=30 x 60) graduates per year of which a large percentage prefer many other professions. Thus getting good metallurgical graduates per year for steel industry would a great challenge. In addition to the supply of number of metallurgical graduates per year to meet the demand by expanding steel industry, the quality of the metallurgical graduates for steel industry would be another concern due to changing syllabi pattern of most of the academic institutes. The course content is currently oriented more to material science than the applied process (Mineral Processing and Metal Extraction). In view of this, those who join steel industry may need orientation course in the area of Ferrous Metallurgy. Thus, getting manpower in terms of quantity and quality would be another challenge to future expanding steel industry. 5.5 Research and Development for Steel Industry The scientific research studies are a continuing process to deal with problems visualized for future. In case of steel or any other metal industry, the research is a time and money consuming process. The present Indian status of top global producer of Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) in the world is a result of sustained combined R & D efforts made by its academic, research and industrial institutions during The problem of non-availability of coking coal was visualized in 1950s and intense R & D work were carried out during to get dividend in 1990 onwards. The Indian steel industry is faced with the problems of scarcity of land, water and human resources for its growth. In order to overcome these, necessary steps should be planned and implemented in time to achieve the steel production target. In this regard it may be mentioned here that, at present many academic institutes the research in the field of iron and steel are not considered as 33

21 34 Journal of Sustainable Planet thrust area. The national research laboratories are also giving very little importance in the areas of raw materials preparation and iron and steel making in their R & D program. The industries also do very little R & D work in their areas. They are mostly occupied with their quality control related problems. The steel industry is posed with many problems related to its future growth. The followings are some of the issues which need to be studied properly to get time bound answer to meet the future challenges: i- Dry Methods for Beneficiation of ore fines ii- iii- Coke Quality Improvement (both coking and non coking) Agglomerates from waste for BF feed iv- Preparation of Composite Reduced Fluxed Pellets v- Use of Higher Quantity of Coal Injection in Blast Furnace vi- vii- viii- Substitution of Coal Injection in Blast furnace by Biomass Studies on the Design and Layout of Steel Plant Equipment with aim to minimise Floor Area Improvement in DRI process using non coking coal/gas etc. Unfortunately it is difficult to find many institutions engages with such studies in India 6.0 Energy and Environment Related Issues The steel industry faces another challenge from energy and environmental related issues. The steel industry is classified as energy intensive, hazardous and highly polluting industry. The important role of energy in iron and steel industry is well known. The steel industry is one of the major consumers of fossil fuels (e.g. coal, oil & gas) and thus a major contributor to green house gases and global warming. This has been discussed in detail in recent publications [22, 23] along with remedial measures. This problem being a universal issue, the Indian steel industry must be concerned and should be ready to face the challenges. In light of increased environmental awareness in public and active environmental law enforcement agencies, it is necessary that, the steel industry becomes self regulatory for better productivity and other business opportunities keeping its long term goals in view. The recent publication [24] on 'Status of Indian Steel Industry in 2012: Need for Urgent Action' focuses environmental issues and presents the current (2012) status of steel industry as studied by CSE, New Delhi under GRP survey and supported by UNDP and MoEF, New Delhi. Various parameters of performance were identified by the Group and based on the same, the plants

22 (that included most of the major steel plants of the country), chosen for the survey, were rated. The overall scoring pattern was quite disappointing: as the highest score being 40 on a scale of 100 and the lowest was rated at 2. This paper provides a method of analysis. The data for air pollution, quantum of natural resources (e.g. water, land, energy and raw material for the production of steel) consumed are provided to indicate its status. This is compared with best available technological practice in the world to indicate the scope of development by Indian steel industry. This paper makes an effort to analyse the cause of poor performance by the Indian steel industry, in the light of poor raw material quality, inadequate monitoring by regulatory bodies, faulty management system, old equipment design, lack of qualified managerial force and poor quality of work force and so on. Suggestions are given for improvement through modernisation, better managerial system and quality of human resource. In light of the conclusions derived by GRP (Green Rating Project) group it would be appropriate that steel industries pay more attention to environmental issues. This could be possible by : i- Adopting newer technologies to minimize emissions ii- iii- iv- Following prescribed norms in view of increased environmental awareness Accommodating environmental management cost Providing Corporate Social Responsibility in letter and spirit Many environmental issues could be resolved by undertaking R & D work. An illustrative list of topics could be: i- Dry Methods of Raw material beneficiation to cut down water use iiiii- iv- Enhanced Coal Injection in Blast Furnace to cut down coke need Injection of Biomass in Blast furnace to use renewable energy earning carbon credits Recycling and re-use of solid waste to avoid waste storage related issue. The Steel Plant Equipment Design and Plant Layout is not the part of any academic syllabi. This subject is important to solve land related problems together with many emerging environmental related issues needing change in equipment design. In view of this some institutions should come up and pay attention to such design and engineering requirements. At present audit is done for cost, energy use and at some places for the effective use of man power. However, the audit must be extended to the effective use of water in view of its scarcity. 35

23 Conclusion In light of the discussion made in this paper the following conclusions could be derived : i ii iii iv v The future Indian steel production target of 200 million ton by 2020 may be possible by paying immediate attention to the challenges posed related to land, water, manpower and environmental issues. The steel plants must be encouraged to develop on waste land preserving the precious forest and agro land area. The green belt and rain water harvesting by steel plants must be made integral part of the project proposal of all newer plants. Water audit may be included with financial and energy audit for monitoring steel plant functioning. Additional academic and R & D institutes focusing on Extractive Metallurgy (Ferrous & Non-Ferrous) are required for quality human resource essential for sustaining strong and healthy steel industry in India. References 1. Steel Production in the World-2012, 2. China Steel Production Rate, 3. Indian Steel Industry-Overview ( 4. Into the Furnace: The Life Cycle of the Indian Iron & Steel Industry, (UNDP Research Project Team : Chandra Bhushan, Umashankar S, Sanjeev Kumar Kanchan, Kanchan Kumar Agrawal, Centre of Science & Environment, New Delhi, p Umashankar S, Sanjeev Kumar Kanchan, Kanchan Kumar Agrawal,, Down to Earth, June 1-15, 2012, p R C Gupta, Energy & Environmental Management in Metallurgical Industries.,PHI, Delhi, 2012, p 211 ( Sugandha Juneja, Sponge iron's dirty growth, Down to Earth Jan 31, Into the Furnace: The Life Cycle of the Indian Iron & Steel Industry, (UNDP Research Project Team: Chandra Bhushan, Umashankar S, Sanjeev Kumar Kanchan, Kanchan Kumar Agrawal, Centre of Science & Environment, New Delhi, 2012., p R C Gupta, Energy & Environmental Management in Metallurgical Industries.,PHI, Delhi, 2012, p 205 ( 11. GOI Land Revenue Waste Land Atlas 2010 ( 12. R C Gupta, Energy & Environmental Management in Metallurgical Industries.,PHI, Delhi, 2012, p 220 ( 13. R C Gupta, Energy & Environmental Management in Metallurgical Industries.,PHI, Delhi, 2012, p 219 ( 36

24 14. R C Gupta, Energy & Environmental Management in Metallurgical Industries.,PHI, Delhi, 2012, p 240 ( 15. R C Gupta, Energy & Environmental Management in Metallurgical Industries.,PHI, Delhi, 2012, p 3 ( 16. Into the Furnace: The Life Cycle of the Indian Iron & Steel Industry, (UNDP Research Project Team: Chandra Bhushan, Umashankar S, Sanjeev Kumar Kanchan, Kanchan Kumar Agrawal, Centre of Science & Environment, New Delhi, 2012.,p Umashankar S, Sanjeev Kumar Kanchan, Kanchan Kumar Agrawal,, Down to Earth, June 1-15, 2012, p Satellites unlock secret to northern India's vanishing water, University of California, Irvine, Today News, 23 Dec ( nr_indiagroundwater_ php) 19. Rainfall Pattern in India, R C Gupta, Energy & Environmental Management in Metallurgical Industries.,PHI, Delhi, 2012, p 213 ( 21. R C Gupta, Energy & Environmental Management in Metallurgical Industries.,PHI, Delhi, 2012, p 216 ( 22. R C Gupta, Energy & Environmental Management in Metallurgical Industries.,PHI, Delhi, 2012, p ( 23. R. C. Gupta, Energy Resources, Its Role and Use in Metallurgical Industries, in Treatise on Process Metallurgy (S Seetharaman Chief Ed)), Volume 3 Industrial Processes - Part A, Chapter 4.2, 1st Edition, Elsevier, London (2014), p R. C. Gupta, S. Umashankar, S. K. Kanchan and K. K. Agrawal, Status of Indian Steel Industry in 2012: Need for Urgent Action, Journal of Sustainable Planet, Vol. 3, no. 2, June 2012, p \ \ \ 37