A Study of Energy Efficiency in the Indian Iron and Steel Industry

The report begins with an overview of the Iron and Steel Industry in the context of its importance to Indian economy and introduces the objective of this study. The status of the industry by production, energy consumption and emissions are discussed with projections. Additionally, a quick outline of Iron & Steel manufacturing process chain is explained. The core technical research activity is augmented in the second chapter. The detailed stoichiometric process model and computer based simulation (ASPEN) model of various sub processes and its results are discussed. This chapter examines the electrical and thermal SEC of the sub-processes. The variation in operating parameters at major equipment across the different sub-processes of the sample plants over a sample time period is also examined. There is a well-defined correlation between the production of iron and steel and a country’s industrial and economic growth, at least during the initial growth years. India is no exception to this relationship. In fact this relationship should be much more pronounced considering that the country has large reserves of iron ore and a tradition of iron and steel making for many decades. The annual production of iron and steel in India is around 80 million tonnes and it consumes over 46 Mtoe of energy contributing about 6 percent of the National Greenhouse Gas emission. Globally, this industry is an efficient one and in a few stages of iron making the efficiency touches almost theoretical levels. In spite of this, energy consumption at some of the Indian plants is 50 percent higher than the global best practice.