According to Paul Wurth, the project will take the furnace’s inner volume to 5,300 m³, a 32% increase; expand the hearth diameter from 13.2 m to 15 m; and increase the number of tuyeres from 36 to 42. 

Under the contract, it will install new refractories, copper and cast iron staves; a new shell; and new hoppers and scales for the Bell Less Top charging system. It also will modify and reinforce the furnace tower to match the increased volume.
 
In addition, it will add an external chamber, single-dome hot blast stove; reline two existing internal combustion chamber stoves; and install new hot blast main and bustle pipes and tuyere stocks. 

The project also entails installation of new sensors and probes; upgrades to the wet gas cleaning system; and expansion of the stockhouse and the cooling system. 

Paul Wurth will provide basic and detail engineering and oversee installation and commissioning. The work is to be carried out during a three-month outage. 

All told, the project is expected to lift the furnace’s capacity from 3 million to 4.5 million metric tons annually, making it one of the largest in India. However, the project is capacity-neutral for the Vijayanagar Works — once it’s completed, JSW intends to close its high-cost No. 2 blast furnace.

That will hold the facility’s overall capacity at 12 million metric tons annually.

JSW estimates that the project will cost approximately US$155.6 million and expects commissioning to occur by early 2019.