Steel and Coal Industries in Jharkhand

Jharkhand is rich in mineral resources. Most minerals are found in the greater Ranchi region, including coal, iron ore, bauxite, chromite and diamond. With the due course of time the steel industry also developed here with the availability of raw materials. The major plants situated at Hilsa and Hotgi produce low-grade steel for rural needs. The former can produce 22000 MT per annum, while the latter produces 6500 MT. Jharkhand has reserves of more than 13.5 billion tonnes of coal and is used in various industries. The types of coal used in the iron and steel industry differ.

Coal and steel industry

Coal industries in Jharkhand

Coal mining started in Jharkhand on the date of the discovery of coal by a joint team of Roorkee and Jamshedpur. The capability and capacity of mining coal is enough to supply the requirement of power plants in the state. The mining of coal started by the first company named Coal India Limited, Jharkhand Area, then it was under Bijli Vitran Nigam Ltd. After getting the freedom of India, Coal India Limited managed this company. The important coal mines are Rajmahal, Palamu, Godda, and East Singhbhum District. 

Coal mining and power generation are the two most important sectors in Jharkhand. Jharkhand has coal reserves of more than 13.5 billion tonnes. The major coal deposits are the Rohtasgarh Basins, Bokaro and Raniganj Coalfields. The coal is generally of low grade (less than 10 per cent) and high ash content (more than 45 per cent). However, the region possesses a good reserve base that can be extracted at economical rates.

The coal power plants require a lot of energy, and as the demand for electricity rises, the availability of coal is a problem. The coal has to be transported to the power plants, and a large amount of fuel oil is used for this purpose. The transport cost is high due to the distance between coal-power plants and railways. Hence there arise problems in revenue generation for the railway, Coal Power Plant owners, Coal suppliers etc.

Steel industries in Jharkhand

The first steel plant was started at Rourkela (Orissa) under the name of Bhilai Steel Plant. This project was a joint venture between India and Russia. Later on, other states also took an interest in establishing such projects. Initially, the steel plant was established at Chiria and later, one more plant was established at Hilsa in Jharkhand. Both plants were under the joint venture of India with Russia.

The plants were running smoothly until they were under the management of the Government of India. The condition of plants got worse with the coming of private companies. The private companies made huge losses and took away their plants from Jharkhand.

Why is coal used in the iron and steel industry?

The iron and steel industry uses coal to produce iron and steel by extracting the iron from its ore. The type of coal used in iron and steel industries in the steel and iron plants are given below:

In nature, there are two types of ore, the first one is called Iron Rock Ore, and the second one is called Black Band Ore. The blackband ore is high in Iron content (it may be 70% or more) and has very little carbon. This type of ore is useful for the blast furnace but not for the basic oxygen furnace. The black band ore is used for the blast furnace of ferrous metals.

Type of production

In the present mining industry, the most common type of industrial process is a blast furnace. In such an iron and steel production process, the first important step is to prepare slag from Blast Furnace. The second step involves dross removal. The rest of the process includes the removal of iron and steel from the Basic Oxygen Furnace.

Below are the statistics of area underwood processing

The area underwood processing is around 5,000 ha, and this again is a major source for the recovery of ready use coal. There are two major areas. The first one is Palamu which has a large area of underwood processing and produces about 1000 mt per annum. The second one is Bhilai which produces about 1,500 mt per annum. The remaining area is under other wood processing like woodworking, woodturning, sawing and planing.

The above process produces about 50,000 mt of coal per annum, and about 51% of the coal is used for the blast furnace. The remaining 49% is used for making iron and steel, which uses about 50% of the total Coal production in Jharkhand. Several methods of coal transportation have been tried in the past, but all of them have failed due to various reasons like slope formation and other physical problems.

Conclusion

Like other states in India, Jharkhand is also a potential destination for coal-based power generation. The state has the majority of the coal reserves in the country, and its geology is suitable for the production of coal and iron. The State Government has approved the plan to set up one ultra mega super thermal power plant at Damodar valley Corporation, Godda and Bokaro Thermal Power Plants. The two types of coal used in the iron and steel industry differ because of ore’s quality. To set up a mine, a lot of money is required to buy machines, infrastructure, and land.