Dr Swaren Bedarkar
General Manager- Projects Metallurgy, Electrotherm, India
Dr. Swaren Bedarkar, PhD in Metallurgical Engineering from IIT Bombay, has stints in R&D, Project Design and Commissioning activity of various metallurgical equipments. With over 18 years of professional experience, he provides a unique blend of expertise to Electrotherm in its pursuit of development of new metallurgical processes and equipments. The main areas of interest of Dr. Bedarkar are ironmaking & steelmaking, heat & mass transfer and processing modelling. He has worked extensively on dephosphorization of steel using induction furnace route. He is continuously working on efficient melting of sponge iron in induction furnace steel making. Dr. Bedarkar is also involved in the various activities of Metallurgical Engineering Department of Indus University, Ahmedabad, India.
Topic: 1 MTPA Steelmaking Plant through IMF+ERF+CCM Route
Abstract: Earlier, induction furnace route started its journey of steelmaking with plant capacities around 30,000 TPA to 0.1 MTPA. With continuous developments, the capacities got gradually enhanced to 0.3 to 0.4 and then to about 0.75 MTPA. However, with latest developments of DIFOC technology based world’s most energy efficient large capacity DTi model of induction furnaces by Electrotherm, installation of 1 MTPA steelmaking plant has become a reality. This production can be achieved with just three sets of 30 MW / 60 ton induction furnaces, one 70 ton ladle furnace, and one 4 or 5 strand high speed caster. Earlier, such production would have employed battery of induction furnaces making the whole process and management quite cumbersome. Compared to BF-BOF route or EAF route, induction furnace based steel plants can be erected and commissioned with much lower CAPEX, in incomparably lower gestation period, and most importantly, to produce high quality construction grade steel at substantially lower OPEX. The quality of steel produced through IF-LRF-CCM route is at par with steel produced through any other route. One can also integrate vacuum degassing (VD) unit to produce even forging grade steel and alloy steel through this route.