8th International Congress on Science and Technology of Ironmaking - ICSTI 2018

Tata Steel is the pioneer in steel industry of India. Production started way back in 1911. However, the first sinter plant (known as SP1) was commissioned in 1958. It was a modest beginning at first, with production of acid sinter. Tata Steel has been sintering captive iron ore fines having high alumina (above 4%) and silica (about 1%). This typically represents the Indian situation where most iron ore are characterized by high alumina to silica ratio. This contrasts with the internationally available ore fines having alumina around 1.0%. High alumina in iron ore fines pose difficulty during sintering such as requirement of high heat input, lower productivity and poor sinter quality (e.g. high RDI, low RI, low Tumbler Index, and so on). The story of sinter making at Tata Steel over last 5 decades is indeed a technical account of converting the odds into advantage. The paper will describe significant discoveries made through lab trials which were adopted in regular operation. A rich learning experience of achieving productivity as high as 42 t/m2/d, starting from around 20 t/m2/d. It will be of greater importance to know the impact of having wide variation in sinter chemistry regimes, as shown below and its impact on sinter properties.