MUMBAI: Tata Steel on Friday successfully commissioned India’s largest blast furnace at Kalinganagar, Odisha. With an investment of Rs 27,000 crore, the Phase II expansion at Kalinganagar will take the total capacity at the site from 3 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 8 MTPA.

The new facility was inaugurated by TV Narendran, CEO-MD, Tata Steel, in the presence of senior leaders of the Company.

The new blast furnace will significantly boost the plant’s overall production capabilities, allowing Tata Steel to eet the growing demands of various industries, including automotive, infrastructure, power, shipbuilding, and defence. It will also provide advantages in specific areas like oil & gas, lifting &excavation, and construction.

With the Phase II expansion, Odisha has emerged as the largest investment destination in India for Tata Steel, with a total cumulated investment of over Rs 100,000 crore in the last 10 years.

Narendran said “The commissioning of India’s largest blast furnace at Kalinganagar is a momentous occasion for the steel industry, setting new benchmarks in capacity, technology, and sustainability. ”

The new blast furnace, with a volume of 5,870 m 3 , is equipped with state-of-the-art features for long campaign life and an eco-friendly design to optimise the steelmaking process. This blast furnace will use four top combustion stoves, a first in India, along with two preheating stoves for optimum specific fuel consumption in hot metal production.

In a first for Tata Steel, a dry gas cleaning plant has been installed to maximise energy recovery from by-product gas. The world’s largest Top Gas Recovery Turbine (TRT) of 35 MW power generation capacity will help with the recovery of an additional 10 per cent of energy.