Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the business unit of the Visakhapatnam steel mill, last week delivered around 400 tons of liquid oxygen to various destinations in Andhra Pradesh and other states.
The air separation plant (ASP) in the RINL has five units of oxygen extraction plants for a 7.3 mtpa steel mill. Of these, three units have a production capacity of 550 tons per unit per day and two units have a capacity of 600 tons per unit per day.
On average, the ASP produces 2,600 tons of oxygen and 100 tons of liquid oxygen, which is used for medical purposes.
Due to the oxygen demand for COVID patients in this pandemic crisis, the RINL already delivered around 400 tons of liquid oxygen last week and 8,842 tons of liquid oxygen last year, according to the most important sources in the RINL.
Future engagement
At the siding of the Visakhapatnam steelworks (VSP), special ramps are being set up jointly by the VSP and the technical staff or the railways to pick up the empty liquid oxygen containers and later load them onto the RORO (Roll On, Roll Off) trains of the wagon.
The container trucks can drive the wagons onto the ground via the ramps. They would be driven into the oxygen plant for loading and then driven back to the siding after loading and the car mounted over the ramp.
The special container train, which should have started on Sunday evening in Maharashtra, was delayed and is expected to start on Monday and, according to sources, is expected to reach VSP sometime on Tuesday.
A green corridor is being created to allow the oxygen specialty to move quickly to meet the medical needs of people in different parts of the country. All other trains would give this train passage. Around 15 of the 32 tankers on the special oxygen train are to be loaded at the VSP. According to sources, each tanker would have a capacity of 15 tons.