IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY

IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY

Mineral-based Industries

Industries that use minerals and metals as raw materials are called mineral-based industries. Can you name some industries that would fall in this category?

Iron and Steel Industry

The iron and steel industry is the basic industry since all the other industries — heavy, medium and light, depend on it for their machinery. Steel is needed to manufacture a variety of engineering goods, construction material, defense, medical, telephonic, scientific equipment and a variety of consumer goods.

Production and consumption of steel is often regarded as the index of a country’s development. Iron and steel is heavy industry because all the raw materials as well as finished goods are heavy and bulky entailing heavy transportation costs. Iron ore, coking coal, and limestone are required in the ratio of approximately 4:2:1. Some quantities of manganese, are also required to harden the steel. Where should the steel plants be ideally located? Remember that the finished products also need an efficient transport network for their distribution to the markets and consumers.

Figure:  India: Iron and Steel Plants

In 2018 with 106.5 million tonnes of crude steel production, India ranked 2^nd among the world crude steel producers. It is the largest producer of sponge iron. In 2018 per capita consumption of steel in the country was only around 70.9 kg per annum against the world average of 224.5 kg.

Figure 6.4:   Processes of Manufacture of Steel

Most of the public sector undertakings market their steel through the Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL). In the 1950s China and India produced almost the same quantity of steel. Today, China is the largest producer of steel. China is also the world’s largest consumer of steel.

Chhotanagpur plateau region has the maximum concentration of iron and steel industries. It is largely, because of the relative advantages this region has for the development of this industry. These include low cost of iron ore, high-grade raw materials in proximity, cheap labour and vast growth potential in the home market. Though India is an important iron and steel producing country in the world yet, we are not able to perform to our full potential largely due to:

(a) High costs and limited availability of coking coal.

(b)Lower productivity of labour

(c) Irregular supply of energy and

(d) Poor infrastructure

Figure 6.5: Crude Steel Production in India and China

We also import good quality steel from other countries. However, the overall production of steel is sufficient to meet our domestic demand.

Liberalisation and Foreign Direct Investment have given a boost to the industry with the efforts of private entrepreneurs. There is a need to allocate resources for research and development to produce steel more competitively.

More to know

*   Mini steel plants are smaller, have electric furnaces, use steel scrap and sponge iron. They have re-rollers that use steel ingots as well. They produce mild and alloy steel of given specifications.

*   An integrated steel plant is large, handles everything in one complex – from putting together raw material to steel making, rolling and shaping.

Activity

1.  Make a list of all such goods made of steel that you can think of.

2.  Why is the per capita consumption of steel so low in India?

Table 6.1: Total production of finished steel in India

3.  ​​​​​​​Collect information about products of steel plants in India.

4.  ​​​​​​​Have you read about the Kalinganagar controversy? Collect information from different sources and discuss them.

Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK

ALUMINIUM SMELTING

ALUMINIUM SMELTING

Aluminium smelting is the second most important metallurgical industry in India. It is light, resistant to corrosion, a good conductor of heat, malleable and becomes strong when it is mixed with other metals. It is used to manufacture aircraft, utensils and wires. It has gained popularity as a substitute of steel, copper, zinc and lead in a number of industries.

Aluminium smelting plants in the country are located in Odisha, West Bengal, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

Figure 6.6:  Strip coasting mill at smelter of NALCO

Bauxite, the raw material used in the smelters is a very bulky, dark reddish coloured rock. The flow chart given below shows the process of manufacturing aluminium. Regular supply of electricity and an assured source of raw material at minimum cost are the two prime factors for the location of the industry.

Figure 6.7:

Figure 6.8: Process of Manufacturing in Aluminium Industry 

Activity

A factory produces aluminium saucepans with plastic handles. It obtains aluminium from a smelter and a plastic component from another factory. All the manufactured saucepans are sent to a warehouse:

1.   (a)   Which raw material is likely to be most expensive to transport and why?

      (b)   Which raw material is likely to be the cheapest to transport and why?

2.  Do you think the cost of transporting the finished products after packaging is likely to be cheaper or more expensive than the cost of transporting aluminium and plastic? Why?

Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK