Lok Sabha Question No. 127 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-09-14
Subject: Government Initiatives for Steel Industry
Ministry: STEEL
Asked by: Amar Singh

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.127 FOR ANSWER ON 14/09/2020

## GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES FOR STEEL INDUSTRY

127. DR. AMAR SINGH:

Will the Minister of STEEL be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the government has any plans to lay emphasis on the importance of introducing digital and analytics to bring new insights to the steel making processes;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  support  new  initiatives  by  the  steel industry to address environmental issues;
- (d) if so, the details thereof;
- (e) whether the  Government  is  planning  to  establish  a  network  among  industry leaders, researchers and  technologists to share their views on the  modern technological developments and research findings to address these challenges and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

(SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

THE MINISTER OF STEEL

(a)&(b):  The  steps  taken  by  the  Indian  steel  industry  for  introduction  of  digital  and analytics in the steel making processes include the following initiatives:-

-  Identification of the finished product till the end customer through introduction of Quick Response (QR) code based traceable tags where quality and genealogy can be tracked.
-  Centralized Yard Management for all finished products to reduce rake retention time and improved identification and handling of the material with wireless Hand Held Terminal (HHT).
-  Steel Ladle Management System to automatically track the steel ladle through various  shops  like  Laddle  Preparation  Bay,  Converter,  secondary  metallurgy, caster and back. It is used to monitor ladle circulation time and effective heat loss  in  empty  ladle.  This  system  facilitates  regulating  the  steel  bath  tapping temperature at LD to get optimum casting temperature at caster using Level-1 and Level-2 automation.
-  SMS Grade Prediction System to predict Final (Tundish) Composition and Final Grade  based  on  Converter  Analysis  and  Ladle  Furnace  Additions  using Machine Learning Algorithm.
-  Optimisation of Coke, Pellet & Sinter quality to improve the yield & throughput of the Blast Furnaces.
-  Modeling  of  iron  making  process  inside  a  Blast  Furnace  to  reduce  coke consumption and further enhance the yield.

-  Optimisation of casting speed in the Continuous Casting process to arrive at the target properties at the lowest cost and time.
-  Operation  Research  based  models  to  optimize  logistics  cost  and  improving yield by efficient production planning.
-  Adoption of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (or Industry 4.0) technology in the steel  sector  for  improving  manufacturing  processes,  material  usage,  energy efficiency, plant & worker productivity, supply-chain and product life-cycle.

(c)&(d): The Ministry of Steel scheme for 'Promotion of Research & Development in Iron & Steel Sector' provides for grant of financial assistance to various institutions including CSIR laboratories and academic institutions for carrying out research in the iron &  steel sector including environmental  issues like utilisation of wastes, improvement  in  energy  efficiency  and  reduction  in  GHG  emission.  Indian  steel industry  has  also  been  taking  measures  to address  the  energy  and  environment issues in Steel plants through adoption of energy efficient and environment friendly technologies as part of technological up-gradation/ modernisation/ expansion projects.

(e) Stakeholder  consultation with  experts  from  the  industry,  research  labs  and academic institutions  is integral part of the R&D Scheme of Ministry of Steel to utilise their  domain  knowledge  while  considering  the  R&D  initiatives  to  address  the technological challenges in the iron & steel sector.

********