Essar Steel develops technology to utilise all plant waste

Mumbai: Ruia Group company Essar Steel would be the first Indian steel company to have a zero waste and environment-friendly steel mill, as the firm finds new ways to utilise plant waste.

This would not only help the firm to generate additional revenue but also ensure the adjoining plant area is free from pollution, Essar Steel chief executive Dilip Oommen said.

''We have taken various measures to utilise plant waste effectively to achieve our goal of becoming a zero waste company. It is our endeavour  - first by an Indian steel firm - to make the world class plant into a green plant,'' Oommen said.

Essar Steel has developed technologies to use slag for manufacturing cement, vitrified tiles and build roads while steel dust can be mixed with rice husks to make bricks. Most steel firms dump these wastes.

Bricks made out of the steel dust mixed with rice husk and other materials, has 60 per cent more strength than the conventional bricks, Oommen said, adding, because the bricks are sun-dried they do not require baking.

Essar Steel's 4.6 million tonne plant at Hazira generates 20-24 per cent slag and less than one per cent steel dust, both being waste products, he added.

''We intend to seek patent for these two technologies and give it to entrepreneurs who could use them for commercial purposes,'' Oommen said.

Essar produces steel using electric arc furnaces at Hazira in Gujarat. It is also setting up another plant nearby to augment its capacity by 4.9 mtpa.

"Using slag, we have already build a road which is under testing," he said.