Bokaro: SAIL-Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL) in association with Research & Development Centre for Iron & Steel (RDCIS) has achieved a major breakthrough in sustainable steel production. 
The joint team of RDCIS & BSL under the leadership of Director Incharge BSL B K Tiwari and Executive Director (HR) with additional charge of Executive Director (Works) Rajan Prasad has successfully developed and manufactured Sludge bricks by recycling high-iron bearing wastes like mill scale and sludge that are inevitably generated during steel production.
The Sludge bricks were charged to converters of Steel Melting Shop (SMS)- II, BSL on 15 June, for the first time in SAIL and most likely, for the first time ever in the steel industry. This breakthrough also represents an important shift towards environmental management and resource optimization in the steel manufacturing process.
Notably, steel production inevitably generates high-iron bearing wastes like mill scale and sludge. Recycling these as raw materials is crucial for sustainable steel production. In the present steel scenario, adoption of new technologies and optimisation of processes in most of the integrated steel plants has led to the shortage of in-house scrap which is used as a coolant during steel making.
With a shortage of internal scrap and high external scrap costs, sludge bricks were manufactured and used as partial scrap replacement at SMS-II, BSL. These “green bricks” have yielded very encouraging results in trials and may soon become a regular feature of steel making in BSL. Speaking on the occasion, Director Incharge BSL B K Tiwari said that this breakthrough will not only help in bringing down the cost of production significantly, but will also help in the larger objectives of de-carbonization and circular economy of BSL and other SAIL plants.
PK Baisakhiya CGM( Maintenance) of BSL, A K Mistry, CGM (Iron & HoPC RDCIS Bokaro Centre) RDCIS and general manager of Environment and Sustainability Department of BSL, Navin Prakash Srivastava (ECS) were present at the function.
