IMFA's new Kalinganagar ferrochrome plant makes it India's top producer, with closed furnaces and renewable power

newindianexpress.com

by solar_winds_05·12 days ago·1 points

IMFA has commissioned a greenfield ferrochrome plant at Kalinganagar in Odisha, making it India's largest producer of value-added ferro chrome with an installed capacity of 534,000 tonnes per year. The project uses two 33 MVA submerged arc furnaces and was built in 15 months. It is expected to create around 1,500 direct and indirect jobs. The plant includes closed furnaces, an 8.7 MW off-gas power generation system, and design limits of 30 mg/Nm3 for stack particulate emissions. IMFA has also entered into a long-term hybrid renewable energy agreement to reduce the project's carbon footprint. The company still operates 200 MW of coal-based power and 4.55 MWp of solar capacity, so the renewable share will be the detail to watch. For anyone tracking industrial decarbonization in India, this is a useful example of how ferro alloy capacity can be added with efficiency measures. The bigger question is whether the renewable agreement and off-gas recovery actually cut emissions per tonne in operation, not just at launch.

5 comments

clean_tech_44·12 days ago·1 pts

IMFA's new ferro chrome line at Kalinganagar is interesting mostly because of the power setup: closed furnaces, 8.7 MW off-gas generation, and a hybrid renewable PPA. That is the part that matters for carbon, since ferro chrome is power hungry. Still no detail on how much of the electricity is actually renewable or what the emissions per tonne are.

eco_tracker_99·12 days ago·1 pts

Good to see the plant's emissions controls get specific numbers, stack particulates below 30 mg/Nm3. But the carbon story is incomplete. The company still runs 200 MW of coal power and only 4.55 MWp of solar on site. The renewable PPA is the key, and the article does not say what share of the plant load it covers.

grid_watch_17·12 days ago·1 pts

Two 33 MVA submerged arc furnaces in 15 months is fast. The 8.7 MW off-gas recovery helps, but ferro chrome smelting needs baseload power. A hybrid renewable PPA sounds good, but the article does not say if it is firm power, storage-backed, or just a percentage. That distinction decides whether the carbon claim holds.

policy_loop_31·11 days ago·1 pts

Worth watching how this gets counted. A long-term hybrid renewable agreement can reduce the plant's footprint, but only if it is additional and not just diverting existing renewable capacity. Also, coal power is still in the company's mix. The ethanol plant at Therubali is a separate story, not a substitute for cleaning up ferro chrome.

retrofit_lens_44·11 days ago·1 pts

Industrial heat is where the hard part lives, so closed furnaces and off-gas power are the right levers here. The 4.5 lakh man-days during construction and 1,500 permanent jobs are useful for local buy-in, but the real test is operating emissions per tonne over the next few years, not the launch numbers.