SIMA Conference at Tata Sponge

22nd December 2010. A one-day technical seminar was organised by Tata Sponge with support of Sponge Iron Manufacturers Association (SIMA) on 21st (1st half) & 22nd (2nd half) December 2010 on the topic “Operation of coal based DRI plants – Recent Developments”. The focus was to provide a platform for learning from each other about latest trends in production of sponge iron in rotary kilns and also to bring in focus upon some of the challenges for sustaining the business. The seminar was organised at Officers Recreation Center of Tata Sponge’s township, at Bilaipada, Orissa. Around 20 member companies of SIMA nominated their delegates to attend the seminar where four technical papers were presented on different issues.

Mr.Suresh Thawani, Managing Director, Tata Sponge, welcomed all the participants to the seminar. He expressed hope that the seminar would provide networking opportunity to participants for wider interaction during the seminar and later and suggested that similar seminars should be arranged to share best practices in maintenance of kilns.

The seminar started with the guest speaker, Dr.D Bandopadhyay, Dy. Director, NML making a lucid presentation on the mechanism of iron ore reduction.

The other two speakers on Day-1, Mr.Laxman Prasad, Adviser Advisor [Mineral Resources and Environment, Godawari Power & Ispat Ltd and Mr.SC Khattoi, Managing Director, Project & Engineering Consultancy spoke about the dwindling availability of sized iron ore and the need to find appropriate technology to agglomerate iron ore fines at affordable cost. Mr.Prasad dwelled upon the prevailing operational constraints, leading to low & inconsistent quality of DRI, short campaign life of DRI Kilns etc. Mr.Khattoi elaborated on various alternative technologies under development to convert ore fines & coal fines into either DRI or liquid metal.
SIMA delegates alongwith Tata Sponge executives during plant visit

The fourth presentation was made by Mr.Partho Chattopadhyay, Chief Operating Officer (Sponge Business) on development of an integrated IT platform to monitor & control the kiln operational parameters on-line. The presentation primarily covered details of an eLogBook developed in-house by Tata Sponge, which facilitates the operators to take decisions by on-line/real time availability of operational parameter trends. As per the presentation, this software has helped the company to increase productivity, maintain quality, optimize the utilization of scarce resources like raw materials and manpower.

In his concluding remark, Mr.SS Bhatnagar expressed that there was a need for similar interactions on a regular basis in future. He thanked all present for their participation and Tata Sponge in particular for hosting the seminar and extending the hospitality to the participants. The participants were also shown around the TATA Sponge Works & other facilities during their stay.