Demand to start another oxygen plant at VSP grows
Visakhapatnam THE demand for commissioning a 850 tonne oxygen plant at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) is growing as shortage of oxygen pan India is claiming lives of several critically ill Covid patients.
TDP MLA PGVR Naidu (Gana Babu) said the plant can be commissioned by investing just Rs 90 crore. VSP has the required manpower. It is already supplying medical oxygen through tankers to AP, Telangana and other parts of the country from the existing facility - new wire rod mill.
The MLA said Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, the corporate entity of VSP had done commendable job by sending oxygen in Oxygen Express to Maharashtra and requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and sort out the issue.
The plant was installed at VSP at a cost of Rs 2,000 crore by a French company Air Liquide. It has been eight years to date and has not been commissioned (reason - final payment of Rs 90 crore is due), regretted Vizag Development Forum vice-president O Naresh Kumar.
He said "if we clear this, immediately Rs 2,000-crore asset now worth much more, can give us full capacity of 1700 tonne per day and greatly enhance our productivity."
When contacted, an RINL official said the case is under arbitration.
As per the MoU, Air Liquide will invest, build and operate two Air Separation Units (ASU) with a total installed oxygen capacity over 1,800 tonne per day, scheduled to start by the end of 2012. In addition, Air Liquide was also supposed to produce large quantities of liquid gases (oxygen, nitrogen and argon) to meet the needs of the industrial and medical customers in the region.
The Air Liquide investment amounted to around €70 million for the production facilities and the supply chain together, Naresh Kumar said.
At present, the Air Separation Plant (ASP) of RINL has total five units of oxygen extraction plants for 7.3 million tonne per annum steel plant.
Every day on an average, ASP produces 2,600 tonne of oxygen gas and 100 tonne of liquid oxygen. The liquid oxygen of 100 tonne is being given out for medical purpose.
RINL is meeting the demand of O2 requirements substantially to AP and other States for the alleviation of human sufferings. Last FY20-21 it had supplied 8,842 tonne of O2 as per requirement.
