JSPL achieves 95% VPA filter availability and gains 15 extra days of plant operation

Huge steel demand in India

New Delhi based JSPL is poised to fulfill the huge steel demand in the country and has established itself as one of the leading players in the industry. With their two pellet plants, each having a capacity of 4.5 MTPA (million tonnes per annum), JSPL is supplying quality pellets and has established a niche for itself in the industry.

Located in the hills of Barbil, in the state of Odisha, JSPL’s 9 MTPA (4.5 million tonnes each) pelletizing complex is India’s largest pellet production facility and biggest pellet exporter. As one of its growth initiatives the company wanted to improve the availability and efficiency of its iron ore pellet plants, which provide the raw material for its steel mills across the country and even outside India.

To meet the desired quality parameters and continuous operations, running the facility at its optimum level with high availability was essential to JSPL. Metso delivered JSPL the first of Barbil’s two pellet plants in 2009. It was set up with a 4.5 MTPA dry grinding circuit. When JSPL decided to ramp up its pellet production with a second unit, Metso offered its partner a solution with lower operating cost and increased availability.

95% plant availability with Life Cycle Services

To lower energy consumption and to increase plant availability, JSPL decided to install a wet grinding circuit with filtration for its second pellet plant. Wet grinding uses water, which must be removed from the iron ore slurry with filters before the iron ore is pelletized.

Metso’s Vertical Plate Pressure Filters (VPA) are heavy-duty machines, developed for filtration of metallic and industrial minerals. They offer customers a high degree of automation for efficient energy consumption. Metso provided JSPL with 8 VPA filters and all running at optimum levels, delivering material having 9 to 9.5% moisture, which is considered good for the green ball preparation.

To improve the process further, JSPL awarded Metso a 3-year Life Cycle Service (LCS) contract for the operation and maintenance of the VPA filters which has been renewed every year post the completion of the initial 3-year contract. With LCS, JSPL was assured of enhanced availability, higher production and predictive & preventive maintenance to enhance machine life. The VPA’s are performing as per JSPL’s expectations and are providing significant cost benefits also. Under the LCS contract, JSPL and Metso agreed on a clear target i.e. consistent VPA filters availability of more than 90%, which has been delivered ever since.

“We chose an LCS contract from Metso because of their expertise in this field. They also have very good R&D facilities and we get support whenever we face any problem. That is the best advantage. We have 8 filters operating in our plants and the availability of these filters are 95%. They are well maintained, very clean, neat and specially the quality of the product is very good compared to any other filters”, said Suresha G, EVP and Business Unit Head of the JSPL’s Barbil facility.

“We are able to maintain plant availability to plus 93-95%, which itself is a very good record in the industry. The credit for this doesn’t go to Metso alone, as credit must also be given to JSPL and their operations”, said CM. Purohit, Vice President for Mining Sales at Metso India.

Life Cycle Services (LCS) contracts tailored to each site

LCS agreements are built on program levels that are designed for different customer needs and are tailored to suit the business and production goals of specific sites. The aim is to maximize equipment uptime, ensure the highest end-product quality and secure continuous production for the customer. Accomplishing these aims involves leveraging Metso Field Service technicians, along with ensuring the right wears and spares are used for each job.

Process efficiency is key

During the pelleting process the iron ore fines are massed into ball shaped green pellets which are then indurated using a furnace to create the finished iron ore pellets. The process consists of many phases and requires several pieces of equipment for grinding, filtration, mixing, balling, indurating and product handling.

At Barbil, the entire process was designed by Metso and the equipment was chosen to deliver JSPL optimized performance. The equipment includes:

• 2 pellet plants (indurating machines)
• 7 balling discs
• Reciprocating conveyors
• Roller screen
• 8 VPA filters
• More than 10 slurry pumps

“We are having two pellet plants at JSPL Barbil which have been supplied by Metso. Pellet plant 1; having a length of 116 meters & a having capacity of 4.5 million tonnes and Pellet plant 2; 128 meters in length & having capacity of 4.5 million tonnes. The results are excellent, especially in terms of quality, in terms of productivity”, shared Suresha G, EVP and Business Unit Head at JSPL.

“We run our pellet plants at full capacity with 100% load and the availability of these machines supplied by Metso is 99%. Without any problem we operate these Metso indurating machines and when we compare it with other pellet plants, the specific consumptions of furnace oil and power, they are the lowest. We are able to run the indurating machines for 20 days non-stop. Also, in a year we operated for 345 days whereas the design factory is 330 days”, added Suresha G.

A continuing partnership

Metso and JSPL are committed to continue their collaboration in future projects to meet the fast-growing steel demand in India. “As a company, they have always focused on having the best technology and we are happy that they have chosen us”, said Kamal Pahuja, Senior Vice President at Metso India.

In this long-lasting partnership, clear understanding of requirements and delivering best of solution and services has been the key.

More about JSPL

Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) has presence in steel, power, mining and infrastructure sectors. The New Delhi-based company is part of the O.P. Jindal Group. Its parent company, which started with a single steel plant in northwestern India in 1952 has since grown into a global USD 22 billion industrial group.

The company produces the world's longest (121-meter) rails and it is the first steelmaker in India to manufacture large-size parallel flange beams. Company’s Barbil pellet plants are located just 50 kilometers from JSPL’s iron ore mines in Tensa.