Harvard students visit Odisha steel plant

Bhubaneswar, January 19: A team of students from Harvard University Sunday visited the coal gasification steel plant of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) in Angul in Odisha.

The students, visiting India as part of the Asia Leadership Trek, examined how the company uses green technology in the plant to produce steel.

The objective of their visit was to make a case study on a multitude of local innovations and challenges faced by JSPL to be able to adapt technology and management of coal gasification from South Africa to India, thus being the first to create the energy efficient and more environment friendly technology of coal production for direct reduced iron.

A total of 43 students from Harvard University's Business School, the Kennedy School, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and Graduate School of Education and Massachusetts Institute of Technology visited the plant.

JSPL is the only plant that the students visited during their three-day trip in India. "Coal gasification technology has immense potential for countries like India, where non-coking coal is abundantly available. We, at Angul, have used this technology for the first time in the world in a steel plant. It is an honour for us that Harvard University has included this environment friendly steel-making process in the trek," said JSPL chairman Naveen Jindal, who accompanied the students.

Claude Al Tabar, a student, said: "I think the use of clean energy would help in sustainable development in India. The initiative by JSPL to produce steel using coal gasification technology is a part of the green energy."

The Asia Leadership Trek aims to provide first-hand insight through an experiential journey of a country or region, in which participants investigate political, economic, industrial and social issues.

IANS