Potential of on-board energy recovery systems to reduce haulage costs over the life of a deep surface mine

Abstract

The installation of energy recovery systems (ERSs) on-board diesel-electric mine haul trucks to capture energy when braking and re-inject stored energy on acceleration and ramp ascent, is proposed to reduce haul costs in surface mining. ERSs would add to equipment cost and reduce truck payload, reducing productivity and effectively increasing other haul-related costs. However, stored energy could reduce fuel consumption and could be used to reduce cycle time thereby improving productivity when conditions are favourable. This paper investigates how the installation of fixed size electro-mechanical flywheel (EMFW) or lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO 4 ) based ERSs could affect the overall cost of truck haulage over the 20-year life of a metalliferous surface mine reaching 600 m deep. The simulation study suggests LiFePO 4 technology can be expected to provide significantly greater haul cost reductions than the EMFW technology by reducing haul costs by 1.4-6.2% depending on the energy re-injection strategy employed.

Fuel consumption in mining industry using partial least squares structural equation modeling approach

“…In the study of Baidya et al (2019), the feasibility of recovering heat lost from diesel engine’s output flows was investigated by identifying the amount of fuel consumption and thermal energy available in the exhaust to reduce energy costs. Terblanche et al (2019) examined whether a truck fleet with a conventional energy recovery system could reduce the total cost of haulage operations over the life of a mine compared to a truck without an energy recovery system. The development of a comprehensive model including planning and scheduling to enhance the efficiency of the mine management system was investigated by Liu and Kozan (2017).…”

“…The amount of cargo a dump truck can carry is called the capacity, which affects the fuel consumption of the vehicle (Dindarloo and Siami-irdemoosa, 2016; Siami-irdemoosa and Dindarloo, 2015; Terblanche et al , 2018; Terblanche et al , 2019).…”

“…The length of the route the trucks (dump trucks) pass will affect their fuel consumption (Dindarloo and Siami-irdemoosa, 2016; Cruzat and Valenzuela, 2018; Zhang and Wang, 2018; Terblanche et al , 2019).…”

“…The number of haulage fleet, or the number of dump trucks, is an important factor in the amount of fuel required for a mine. The more optimal the allocation of the fleet, the lower the fuel consumption will be (Cruzat and Valenzuela, 2018; Terblanche et al , 2019; Liu and Kozan, 2017).…”

“…Due to the passage of trucks which are fully loaded and the tractive force and friction affecting the trucks, the slope of the mine roads is a factor that will affect fuel consumption (Cruzat and Valenzuela, 2018; Terblanche et al , 2019).…”