Electrotherm (India), a leading manufacturer of induction furnace, oxygen converter, ladle furnace, caster, transformer, and other metallurgical equipment for steel plants and foundries, has successfully commissioned the 35-tonne ELdFOS, a special metallurgical equipment for carrying out dephosphorization and desulphurization in the same equipment at Suryadev Alloys & Power Limited near Chennai in June 2013. This was announced by Suneel Kulkarni, Executive Director, Electrotherm (India) at a media conference held at Pune on July 16.

"The successful development of dephosphorization by Electrotherm, a first-of-its-kind technology, has strengthened the viability of small and medium steel producers using induction furnace for melting because they can now produce high-quality steel employing this new technology for refining," he said. Realising the needs of its customers to produce steel having phosphorus and sulphur within specified norms, Electrotherm's metallurgy, design and development departments have been working on this project for quite some time to establish the process of dephosphorization without using any oxygen converter. Successful trials were conducted at its steel plant in Kutch during 2008 to 2010 before the equipment was manufactured for commercial scale.

"The breakthrough technology provided by us will enable the steel producers through induction route to conform to recently proposed BIS norms and produce steel grades like Fe500D and above rebars which will propel their market share for long products over the next four to five years in comparison to primary producers," Kulkarni said, adding, "Ever since the use of sponge iron increased in induction furnaces, the problem of high phosphorus and sulphur were seen as a stumbling block by the steel producers. It became imperative to have refining equipment which would reduce both phosphorus and sulphur from the molten steel before it was taken to casting."

Incidentally, over 30 per cent of India's total steel production comes through the induction furnace route, which predominantly uses sponge iron as their major raw material. Phosphorus and sulphur come in the sponge iron from iron ore and coal. "The successful development and commissioning of ELdFOS has given a fresh lease of life to steel producers through the induction route. It facilitates them to meet international quality standards for their products and they can even export their billets or finished products, particularly in view of the fact that the BIS norms are getting stringent," Kulkarni stated.

Electrotherm, a total solutions providing company, has exported induction furnaces to 39 countries around the world and made them profitable through technology upgradation and productivity improvement equipment, which it keeps developing from time to time. Electrotherm has already acquired patent of its dephosphorization process. The installation cost of a 30 metric tonne induction furnace with ELdFOS technology can cost up to Rs 4 crore and according to Kulkarni, Electrotherm hopes to raise revenue of upwards of Rs 200 crore by 2017 through the sale of this equipment.