Steel Authority of India Ltd first blast furnace Parvati situated at SAIL’s Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) has been rebuilt and is successfully blown in recently.

The blast furnace Parvati is rebuilt with state-of-the-art features and additional capacity. The useful volume of the furnace has increased from 1139 cubic meter to 1710 cubic metre, resulting in the expected enhancement of production capacity from 0.438 MT per annum to 1.015 MT per annum.

This advanced blast furnace has advanced features like new skip system, closed loop cooling system with soft water,twin flat cast houses at 90 degree apart with cast house defuming system, new turbo blower for high top pressure, new hot blast system for higher blast temperature, new coal dust injection system, new gas cleaning plant and a new dust catcher.

Apart from boosting the production, the modern features will help reduce the dependence on coal which will enable reduction in carbon footprint.

The blast furnace Parvati was first blown in on January 24, 1959 and soon after it was dedicated to the nation on February 3, 1959 by the then President Dr Rajendra Prasad. Since then, the furnace was taken down five times for relining and major repair before it was put down on August 5, 2013 for total rebuilding.