Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh): To meet the demands of oxygen supply at a time when the country is reeling under COVID-19, the steel sector produced a whopping 3,474 MT of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) on Sunday.
All out efforts being made to enhance production of LMO and for dispensing the same
The total daily oxygen production capacity of steel plants is 2,834 MT. In the steel sector, there are 33 oxygen plants -- both the Central Public Sector Enterprises and private -- of which 29 are tapped regularly. However, on April 24, the country's steel plants produced as much as 3,474 MT. This is higher than the LMO production capacity because most units have reduced the production of nitrogen and argon. Instead, they have ramped up LMO production.
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Steel plants require gaseous oxygen, primarily for steel making and oxygen enrichment in blast furnaces, apart from some general purposes such as lancing and gas cutting. Hence, Captive Oxygen Plants in Integrated Steel Plants are designed to produce primarily gaseous products of oxygen, nitrogen and argon, and then routed through Pressure Reduction and Management System (PRMS) to meet the process need at the desired pressure.
Such plants can produce 5-6% maximum Liquid Oxygen (LOX) at the peak capacity, which is a highly pure product compared to the industrial oxygen. Plants can only optimize LOX production by sacrificing some gaseous Oxygen and optimize process parameters.
The average delivery of LMO by SAIL has been raised to more than 800 tonnes per day. Around 1,150 tonnes of LMO was delivered on April 23 and another 960 tonnes on Sunday. The total LMO supplied from SAIL integrated steel plants at Bhilai, Bokaro, Rourkela, Durgapur and Burnpur from August 2020 till Sunday is 39,647 tonnes.
