Tata Steel BSL commissions UV oxidation plant at Narendrapur steel plant

Tata Steel BSL has commissioned a UV oxidation plant at its Narendrapur steel plant in Dhenkanal district, Odisha, which can treat 80 cubic meters of waste water per hour.

The subsidiary of Tata Steel claimed that this is the first UV oxidation plant in the steel industry to have been installed for the treatment of coke oven wastewater.

The commissioning was done in early August by Tata Steel BSL with the backing of the research and development (R&D) team of Tata Steel.

Prior to the commissioning, Tata Steel BSL procured the necessary equipment for the Narendrapur steel plant such as different UV reactors, UV control panels that were customized with the suppliers and the R&D team of Tata Steel.

According to Tata Steel BSL, the commonly used method of treating cyanide in coke oven wastewater — the solid sludge separation technology could result in cyanide toxicity by secondary means of toxic sludge decomposition. The company’s new technology has been developed to address this issue.

Tata Steel BSL commissions UV oxidation plant at Narendrapur steel plant in Odisha. Photo courtesy of TATA STEEL BSL.

Subodh Pandey — Chief Operating Officer of Tata Steel BSL, commenting on the commissioning of the UV oxidation plant at the Narendrapur steel plant, said “One of the best ways to handle cyanide is complete destruction of it by oxidation. The UV Oxidation plant helps us achieve that and thus no footprint is left for further contamination of the environment.

“This unique initiative is one of the series of sustainable interventions the organization is undertaking after takeover of the company.”

Tata Steel BSL said that is has made other technological interventions so that untreated water is not discharged from the Narendrapur steel plant. The company had installed half a dozen effluent treatment plants (ETPs) and three gas cleaning plants (GCPs) for the treatment of wastewater from various units such as coke ovens, cold rolling mill, steel melting shop, blast furnace, and others.

Likewise, the Indian steelmaker had also set up five sewage treatment plants with a combined treatment capacity of 4900 cubic metres of water per day at the Narendrapur steel plant and its housing colony.