Dhenkanal: Tata Steel BSL has become the first Indian steel manufacturer to export LD slag to Bangladesh from its unit located in Dhenkanal district.
The company has exported 9,000 tonnes (KT) of LD slag through Dhamra Port to the Bangladesh market for making cement.
This endeavour is another milestone in the company’s operations as it marks India’s first export of LD slag to Bangladesh, the company said on Friday.
Cemcoa Limited, a Hong Kong based trade house and an existing buyer of Tata Steel BSL, has shown keen interest in the market development of LD slag in the cement-making process in Bangladesh and facilitated the export.
Test and trial of LD slag has already been done in the concerned plant in Bangladesh. The proposed plan is to export 100 KT of LD slag per annum.
Commenting on this initiative, Subodh Pandey, chief operating officer of Tata Steel BSL says, the company has always looked at operational and market facing innovations by creating value out of its by-products as part of its quest to a sustainable future.
“With a customer-centric approach, this is one of the series of interventions we are doing to supplement our product portfolio and explore newer markets,” he said.
LD (Linz-Donawitz) slag is a by-product in the steel making process and Tata Steel BSL at present generates approximately 1 million tonnes of LD per annum.
In collaboration with its customers, the steel major has developed a 0-6 mm size slag range, for applications in slag cement, GGBS (Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag) and clinker making.
The company said it has been supplying LD slag to brickmakers around the plant, national highway work, for hard surfacing and low land area filling, cement companies in Odisha and West Bengal, distributors in coastal Odisha for use in highway and brick work.
To take the journey forward, it is also working to develop counterweights for auto and HEMM (heavy earth moving machinery) segments and agriculture. The company further said that it has achieved 100 per cent recycling of fly ash, LD slag and blast furnaces slag produced by it.