Ray said this while inaugurating the 2x110 tonne twin hearth furnace atBurnpur on Friday. The twin hearth furnace replaces two open hearth furnacesin the steel melting shop of the Burnpur works of Iisco.

Iisco's proposed modernisation by Tyazhpromexport is still to be cleared bythe Russian finance ministry. Ray promised all possible support for this.

On the occasion, SAIL chairman Arvind Pande assured that pendingfinalisation of major investment for modernisation of Iisco, someimprovement schemes would be implemented with in-house resources for whichother units of SAIL would extend all support.

The twin hearth furnace has been constructed at a cost of Rs 16.09 crore ina record time of six months from the date of approval of the project,extensively using in-house facilities. It can produce 0.3 million tonnes ofsteel annually and is projected to reduce the cost of production by aroundRs 1,500 a tonne, as a result of lower refractory consumption, higherproductivity, lower process losses and higher yields.

Iisco's steel melting shop was commissioned in 1939 and was expanded in latefifties.

At present Tisco is equipped with one 50 tonne a day oxygen plant. In orderto meet the additional requirement of oxygen for the twin hearth furnace,additional supplies have been arranged on a build-own-operate basis.

In the seventies when the Japanese were racing ahead with oxygen steelmaking, the Russians developed the twin hearth furnace as a low capital costupgradation of the open hearth furnace.

Bhilai Steel Plant has replaced its open hearth furnaces with four twinhearth ones and has been operating them successfully. Durgapur Steel Planthas also installed one twin hearth furnace that has recently gone out oforder after being used for several years. Steel technologists believe thatthough the twin hearth furnaces have helped in reducing cost of production,these have not been a viable alternative to the basic oxygen converters. Inmost cases these are thought of as a short-term alternative, particularlywhen capital investment is a problem.