With over 25 years experience in manufacturing coal-grinding mills and LOMA®-Heaters for pulverised coal injection (PCI) units at steel plants, LOESCHE has now supplied more than 60 mills for this specialised application world-wide.

However, in September 2013, the company broke into a new market when it received an order from the private-sector Indian steelmaker, Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd, for a PCI mill for its integrated plant at Rengali in the state of Orissa.

LOESCHE’s order includes the design engineering, supply and installation supervision for an LM 23.2 D coal mill, which will be installed in the PCI coal grinding and drying section for the No.2 blast furnace at Bhushan’s steel plant. The order also includes a LOMA®-Heater that will be used to dry the pulverised coal during grinding process.

The LM 23.2 D will grind hard coal at a rate of 42t per hour to a product fineness of 25% R 88µm and a product moisture content of less than 1%. With an input power of typically 450kW, the two-roller LM 23.2 D has a grinding table diameter of 2.3m.

The LOMA LF 16-L hot gas generator will be integral to the coal-grinding process. The hot gas generator will be supplied by LOESCHE’s specialist high-temperature technology subsidiary, LOESCHE ThermoProzess GmbH. The LOMA® combustion chamber will be equipped with a multiple lance burner that will enable it to use blast-furnace gas fuel for its main burner, with coke-oven gas being used for starting. With a main burner output capacity of 5,630kW, the unit will supply exhaust gas at an outlet temperature of 310°C to the grinding mill for both coal-drying and mill inertisation purposes.

LOESCHE guaranteed a very challenging time schedule to win the contract, with delivery of the basic design and preliminary drawings, including load data, required within first six months and the equipment scheduled for delivery by the end of this year.