Coking coal allocation to steel plants: modeling and policy analysis

Abstract

Supply of required quantity of coking coal having specified quality has been a major problem for integrating steel plants. Performance of our steel sector has been severely affected by the quality of coking coal which it has been getting. This study aims at looking at this problem of allocation of both domestic as well as imported coking coal to integrated steel plants with a view to optimize the performance of steel plants. The problem is modeled in an Operational Research Framework. The problem formulation results in a complex non-linear problem having non convex constraint set. The problem also has been analyzed using multiple criterion framework, it is shown that interactive multiple criterion methodology can be used advantageously for this kind of problem. This modeling has been based on an extensive familiarization study of several integrated steel plants and Research and Development organizations working in the area of steel and coal. This has helped in establishing the relevance of the problems as well as in refining the model. The study provides an explicit analytical framework for determining operating policy in the area of coking coal for the steel sector. The model is also useful for deciding the coking coal import policy for the Government. Certain strategic investments in the steel sector as well as coal sector can also be analyzed using the proposed model.