Indian state-owned steel producer Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) has announced the startup of basic oxygen furnace (BOF) No. 1, marking the commencement of modern steelmaking at its IISCO Steel Plant (ISP). Under the expansion program at ISP, many major facilities including the coke oven battery, the sinter plant and the 500,000 mt per year wire rod mill have already commenced operations on a stand-alone basis.
According to SAIL, the commencement of the BOF paves the way for starting up production from the new 4,060 m3 blast furnace next month. With the new blast furnace coming into operation, integrated operations will start in the state-of-the-art 2.5 million mt per year steel plant.