Jamshedpur, Feb. 7: An international two-day conference on Steelmaking and Casting � Sustainable Technology and Practices�,� being organised by the Indian Institute of Metals, Jamshedpur Chapter in association with Tata Steel and CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory kicked off today at Jamshedpur.
The aim of the conference was to provide a common platform to industry leaders, researchers and technologists to discuss the challenges steelmaking industry is facing at this moment and to establish a network among them to share their views on the modern technological developments and research findings to address these challenges.
For iron and steel manufacturing industry, the need of the hour is sustainable manufacturing practices that includes implementation of various improved technologies at different stages of steelmaking and casting, reduction in energy and material consumption and waste utilization with a focus on environmental and societal aspects of the manufacturing practice.
The inaugural function started with presenting plant saplings to all dignitaries which was then followed by lighting the lamp. Akshay Khullar, Chairman of the conference organizing committee, delivered the welcome address and explained how the theme of the conference was conceptualised considering the relevance of the subject.
The welcome address was then followed by release of the conference souvenir.
A.K. Rastogi, Chairman, Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board, was the Chief Guest of the inaugural function. He said that this conference is the first of its kind in eastern India and expressed his willingness to support new initiatives by the steel industry that will address environmental issues.
Dr I Chattoraj, Director CSIR-NML was present in the function as guest of honour. In his speech, Dr Chattoraj mentioned about the history of the threat that steelmaking industry has been facing due to introduction of new alternative materials and emphasized on the look-out of alternative energy resources.
Dr. Debashish Bhattacharjee, Vice President (Technology and New Materials Business),Tata Steel, delivered a speech as guest of honour of the event where he mentioned that steelmaking is relatively a recent technology as compared to ironmaking and elaborated about the evolution of the new technologies in steelmaking like BOF, EAF etc. over time.
Sudhansu Pathak, Vice President (Steel Manufacturing), Tata Steel, was present as the patron of the conference on the dais. He emphasized on the importance of introducing digital and analytics which will give new insights to the steel making processes.
The programme concluded with presentation of mementos to the dignitaries and extending vote of thanks by the conference convener P P Sahoo.
