PSM engineers repair two converter boilers

Pakistan Steel was perforce operating the heavily leaked converter boiler, since long which was a major hurdle in increasing the steel production at Steel Making Department. It was just because the estimated cost for the repair/replacement work was over a billion rupees and time needed to carry out the said work was two to three years.
According to PSM statement to get out of this trapped situation, the management accepted the challenge and decided to immediately carryout major repair of its two converter boilers by mobilising its indigenous resources and expertise with the full confidence that the workforce and the professional team available in the organisation is competent enough to carry out the repair in shortest possible time, without complete stoppage of the plant.
The team reclaimed almost irreparable equipment to life and made it productive. In next 4 to 6 months, the remaining parts of boilers will also be replaced in a professional manner through locally available material hence both the boilers will be reconstructed to new with a meagre cost.
As per the designer, boilers' metal service life was 100,000 hours (approximately 11.5 years) and replacement of all heating surfaces was due in 1994 and 1995. In view thereof boiler No 1 was stopped for capital repair in 1996 and partial replacement of its heating surface was done, whereas Boiler No 2 was stopped in 2002 and similar partial replacement was carried out same as of boiler No 1.
As both the boilers exhausted their useful life in 2009 the then management decided to float tender for rehabilitation of these waste heat boilers for both the converters through foreign engineering firm as local expertise was not available but the tender could not be materialised due to non-availability of required funds as the estimated cost was over 10 million US Dollars.
Meanwhile, the Steel Making Process was continued perforce without any major repair of boilers. Due to prolong operation since 2009 till 2014, the physical condition of the boiler continued deteriorating and with the passage of time it became a souring issue for operation of converters which almost stopped the steel production in October 2014. This repair and replacement work carried out locally has saved over 100 million dollars foreign exchange but also developed in-house technology and expertise for such precious job which can be utilised for similar works in future hence promoting self-reliance.-PR