In a fresh case of utilizing heat waste recovery system for achieving energy
efficiency, Essar Steel India Limited has recently commisioned a 19MW power
plant at Hazira. The heat recovery power plant uses waste heat as fuel to generate
electricity that ensures zero wastage at the plant site. This initiative by
the global producer of steel, is a positive move towards decreasing the overall
carbon footprint and reducing the cost of power for the company.
According to the company, the Hazira plant will utilize heat generated during
the manufacturing process of hot briquetted iron waste heat recovery boiler
(HBI-WHR) and surplus steam form blast furnace boilers, for electricity generation,
from four modules. These four modules form part of the HBI plant, each generating
flue gas of about 2,00,000 Nm/hr. The power generated by the plant will be used
for internal consumption. In the words of Mr Dilip Oommen, MD and CEO, Essar
Steel India, the company's focus is to have facilities which are both cost
efficient and environmentally friendly.
Furthermore, the new plant is helping the company save the cost of generating
19MW of power, which is equivalent to the power required for almost 10,000 homes.
This, calculated in accordance with current electricity prices, provides extensive
savings. "This allows us to help addressing the national power deficit by
not drawing this power from the grid or using scarce natural resources,"
Mr. Oommen states.
The Essar Group also has a similar facility at its Canadian operations at Essar
Steel Algoma Inc, where the company has a co-generation facility. The company
is using the skills acquired in Canada for replicating the success in India.
Essar Steel Algoma has installed a 70MW co-generation facility providing a sustainable,
highly efficient, clean energy solution meeting the standards of the Canadian
authorities. It employs low-NOx burner technology and eliminates the need to
flare byproduct fuel. The facility reduces nitrous oxide emissions and converts
by-product fuels from the coke-making and iron making processes into electricity
and steam for the steelworks. Essar has set a precedent as the first integrated
steel manufacturer in Canada to construct a co-generation facility fueled with
by-product gas from the operation. The company is sure to benefit with the availability
of carbon credits due to the reduction in emission of greenhouse gases. The
company can utilize the power more effectively without any transmission losses
or leakages of power due to the proximity of the plant in Hazira. As Mr. Oommen
rightfully says, "In order to achieve maximum carbon credits, the plant
has to ensure taking up more CDM projects in the future." He adds that
basically there are 3 categories of CDM projects, which includes energy improvement
projects, waste heat recovery projects and renewable energy projects.
The company claims to have a well defined strategy to further reduce the specific
energy consumptions, which also helps in curbing specific CO2 emissions. In
its recently commissioned expansion projects, the company has incorporated the following
energy-efficient technologies:
- Installing top pressure recovery turbine (TRT) in blast furnace (BF) - 60,662 tons of CO2 emission redcution annually.
- Waste Heat Recovery system of hot stove in BF - 1,42,541 tons of CO2 emission reduction annually.
- Stem generation using BF gas in boilers - 2,35,384 tons of CO2 emission reduction annually.
- Installation of bell-less top (BLT) charging system in BF - 67,380 tons of CO2 emission reduction annually.
- Corex gas to replace natural gas consumption in DRI, plate mill, CSP, lime plant etc - 16,43,000 tons of CO2 emission reduction annually.
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For our upcoming expansion projects, following are the facilities we have planned to reduce CO2 emissions:
Any plans of expanding power generating capacity of the Hazira
plant in the near term?
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Interview with Mr Dilip Oommen
