JSPL DRI plant in Angul becomes operational

Angul/New Delhi: JSPL (Jindal Steel and Power Limited) coal gasification-based DRI (direct reduced iron) plant in Odisha's Angul district has become operational. The operations in the plant had been halted due to a scarcity of coal. However, the plant, whose total capacity is 1.80 MTPA, has resumed its operations, JSPL said in a regularly filing on Tuesday.

"JSPL's 1.80 MTPA DRI (direct reduced iron) plant based on Coal Gasification process has resumed operations in Odisha's Angul district. The plant was set up by JSPL to ensure the availability of chemical and thermal energy required to produce DRI at an affordable price to reduce the environmental impact of coal in the long run," JSPL said.

JSPL DRI plant works on coal gasification process. But what is it?

The coal gasification process (CGP) converts high-ash grade coal into synthesis gas or Syngas. It is the first plant of its kind in the world where Syngas is used in making DRI. The Syngas has replaced the costlier Natural Gas being used by other DRI manufacturers across the globe.

The Syngas is used as a reductant in converting Iron ore/ Iron Pellets into DRI /Sponge iron. JSPL has made thousands of crores of investments to build the Direct Reduced Iron plant and coal gasification plant. The Syngas produced from Swadeshi coal gasification contains Methane, Carbon Monoxide, Hydrogen and other such useful gases, in a particular ratio, which are required to produce DRI from Iron Ore/pellets. This gasification process has a milder impact on the environment as compared to the coal combustion process, JSPL said in the filing.

Value-added by-products

The gasification process also produces value-added by-products like gasification oil, tar, ammonia, phenol, Naptha and high-purity sulphur etc from Syngas which are used by downstream chemical plants. The DRI plant was not operational for long due to a scarcity of coal. However, now Coal India limited and Mahanadi Coalfields Limited have started selling coal in adequate quantity, and therefore gasification and ORI operations have been resumed, JSPL said.

"Our CGP & DRI plants are again working on the full potential on purchased coal and matching the vision of Hon'ble Prime Minister Mr Modi, who invited gasification technology suppliers to set up environment-friendly plants in India based on Swadeshi coal," said VR Sharma, MD -JSPL.

"This is a model plant for the country and its success depends upon the regular availability of coal. I am confident this plant will inspire others and attract more investments in this field based on Swadeshi coal. We are targetting an additional production run-rate of 1.50 million tonnes per year of steel in FY20-21 through CGP & DRI Route," Sharma said.