Dr. J.N. Tiwari was the Head of Dalmia OCL’s Refractory Business and also ex Chairman of Indian Refractory Makers Association. He spent his lifetime in the development of Indian refractory industry and has wide grasp on the subject of refractory raw materials for running refractory units both in India & China. He is an alumnus of IIT-BHU and did his PhD from Sambalpur University. At present he is attached to TYK Corporation, Japan.
IM: You have spent your entire career in the refractory industry. What is your take on the raw material situation of the industry esp. its China dependence?
JNT: We are aware that bulk refractory is being consumed by steel industry so it will be pertinent to focus more on this with the contextual reference for other industries using refractory materials.
1. But for bauxite, the majority of refractories for steel in alumina segment are based on synthetic materials like fused or tabular or sintered aluminas. oxide being available in plenty in India and also alumina manufacturing is self dependent it can be presumed that if infrastructure for secondary manufacturing of illuminous is created they should not be shortage of raw materials for illumina based factory in steel making. clay based fire factor factories will face the difficulty of availability of fire clay how we quadrilateral afford between industry and mining of coal could resolve this issue.
With availability of sillimanite sand, research could resolve the issue of Alumino-silicate also. Given proper focus on raw material development and its utilisation alumino silicate refractories could be manufactured with indigenous raw materials. Wherever necessary ,we either develop our own technology or collaborate with technology partners.
2. Raw materials for Silica refractories are available in abundance and at such their should not be any problem of making silica refractories in the country, provided we invest in plant equipment and facilities for increasing production of these products. Although India has committed zero balance of carbon dioxide emission by 2070 yet it is not practical and possible to convert the total steel making to untested and unchartered technology of hydrogen reduction mechanism and solar power generation systems. Therefore blast furnaces and coke once are likely to continue even then. Proper calculation and peak in future will throw light on use of these refractories.
3. Most crucial refractories are basic refractories based on magnesite and here China dominates the world so much so that the cost of manufacturing of these always remains unpredictive- what is cost effective- import from China as a finished product or manufacturer in India which Chinese raw materials. Unfortunately India has to depend on China if we insist on using magnesite based products for secondary steel making. Indian refractory industry should very seriously examine the possibility of using fused dolomite or fused mag-dolo raw materials produced in India for refractories of secondary steel making. With green power being available and government focus on switching over to green power being visible dominant, should create an environment for industry to invest in this .It will be a good substitute for magnesia carbon bricks and will greatly reduce the dependence on China.
4. Initially cheaper power and lack of international acceptance of pollution norms lead to mushrooming of fused chinese raw materials t,he basic raw materials. It is now important that India starts making its own chrome -mag grains, mullite grains and many others. There is no distinct advantage of power anymore in China it appears.
IM: India has reserves of refractory grade bauxite and magnesite. But they are not of very high quality due to the presence of some harmful oxides. Why the R&D bodies in India have failed to develop good aggregates from them or beneficiate them?
JNT: Unfortunately there are fixed notions about certain raw materials. We cannot depend on world for feeding us with refractory raw materials because they themselves do not have perennially. Our future generations will question us. We allowed foreigners to use our prime raw materials and when the deposit exhausted they switched over to synthetic refractories and we continue to lament on shortage of raw materials. Kyanite is one such example. The impurities like Fe2O3,TiO2 and CaO of bauxite are to be worked upon so that it can be made usable for refractive industry. When I was in OCL a partially successful cooperative research with DISIR was completed under my guidance by team led Dr. BK Panda and Late Dr. N Sahoo. Our national institutions should be entrusted with the responsibility. Industry associations must emphasize on this issue as well. In fact again we must also start working on sea water magnesite.
IM: Do you think big MNCs operating in India can come together to develop indigenously available raw materials?
JNT: Research is an on going process. We generally start expecting return on research expenses after a very short gestation period. One needs deep pocket and patience to get good financially viable research results. It is not necessary that only MNCs can do this. It is possible through our own national research agencies in collaboration with Indian refractory manufacturers. Refractory excellence centre at BHU was conceived as a test laboratory ,however with enoromous facilities of research available in BHU- department of ceramic engineering -and other departments ,could become a great nucleus for such researches .Even now IRMA can take a lead. Obviously ,MNCs have head start because of their world wide exposure and experience.
IM: What would be your advice to Indian refractory makers to secure raw material security for their respective units?
JNT: Business needs continuity. This needs tapping of all legal resources to get the raw materials. We can be idealistic to some extent but not at the cost of profits. Hence look at the whole world.
IM: What would be your suggestion to attract the best talents to the refractory industry? We normally see a substantial number of students from IIT BHU or NIT Rourkela prefer the IT sector than the core sector.
JNT: Attracting talent is a continuous process. The positive atmosphere within the organization gives vibes to potential joinees. My experience with the industry has been that on many occasions we find ourselves depressed, non competitive, directionless for future growth Such messages get carried away and people generally try to abandon such organisations. It is possible to pool the talent from top institute of the country if and only if the refractory industry designs responsibilities and the career path. I find that majority of owner driven companies need lot of thought changes so as to fall in the mental frame of the new generation which is getting trained through telecommunication and electronics boom. Unless we do this, I am afraid ,we in refractory industry will continue to be driven by mediocre people both in business as well as in development.
IM: Thank you very much.
JNT: Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to communicate with you and I hope refractory industry, particularly Indian industry has a bright future as India is taking leaps in the growth of steel manufacturing capacity.
