According to the builder, Paul Wurth, the furnace was blown in on 7 November. The furnace is designed to produce 4,450 tons of iron daily. It has a diameter of 9.6 meters, two tapholes and 25 tuyeres.

The furnace features a closed-loop water cooling system with copper and cast iron staves installed up the full height of the furnace shell; a central-feed Bell Less Top charging system, and a gas-cleaning plant with axial cyclone and annular gap scrubber. The furnace is equipped with pulverized coal injection capability.

“After the furnace was successfully built, tested and blown in, Bhushan Power & Steel and Paul Wurth are now jointly working on a fast and smooth production ramp-up. The project involved services and supply executed by Paul Wurth teams coming from the company’s subsidiaries in India, Luxembourg, Italy, Germany, China, Russia and the Czech Republic,” the company said in a statement.