A brainstorming meeting was held on 11th May 2023 in the Ministry of Steel, under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Steel Shri N. N Sinha to evolve a comprehensive medium-term R&D roadmap and action plan for the Iron & Steel Sector for the next ten years. Stakeholders from the steel industry, academia, research laboratories, design & engineering companies and also from other concerned Ministries/ Departments viz. DST, DSIR, DRDO etc. actively participated in the meeting. The discussions were moderated by Dr Indranil Chattoraj, ex-Director, National Metallurgical Laboratory (CSIR-NML) Jamshedpur and Smt. Ruchika Chaudhary Govil, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Steel.
The meeting began with the discussions on the needs of the R&D initiatives which can be taken up on a common platform for the long term sustainable development of the Indian Steel Sector. Among the thrust areas identified for carrying out research were beneficiation of iron ore & agglomeration, beneficiation of coal, Carbon Capture & Utilisation, utilisation of steel industry wastes such as steel slag, decarbonisation technologies, use of bio-char to substitute coke/ coal in some areas of iron & steel making, as well as R&D to address challenges & issues specific to the Secondary Steel Sector. Discussions were held to identify ways & means for strengthening Industry, research labs & academia interface for carrying out coordinated & collaborative research to address the R&D needs of the Iron & Steel sector. Thereafter, discussions were held on the way & means to ensure that the IPs generated through R&D are available for the entire steel sector in India and how the IPs generated through R&D can be translated into development of actual processes and also development & production of machineries & plants required for the processes. The requirement and sources of R&D funds and institutional development needed for undertaking such R&D efforts were also discussed.
Various Integrated Steel Plants and steel CPSEs came forward to share their facilities for collaborative use by the entire sector. The running theme for the entire discussion was to apply scarce national R&D resources to the best possible use for rapidly addressing national priorities as also assume technological leadership in various areas of iron and steel making.
While thanking the stakeholders for their valuable inputs which have set the tone for further interactions on the matter, Secretary (Steel) stated that going forward, detailed inputs shall be sought from them for formulating the roadmap/ R&D programmes to be carried out on priority. Based on the identified R&D programmes and their cost thereof, Ministry of Steel will identify/ facilitate the sources of funding as well as the ecosystem required for pursuing the initiatives.