Techno-economic feasibility assessment of a diesel exhaust heat recovery system to preheat mine intake air in remote cold climate regions
Underground mines in Arctic and Subarctic regions require the preheating of mine intake air during winter. The cold fresh air of those remote areas can be as severe as −40 °C and commonly needs to be heated to around +3 °C. This extensive amount of heating is usually provided by employing large-size...
Published in: | International Journal of Mining Science and Technology |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Elsevier
2020
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmst.2020.05.014 https://doaj.org/article/7d653359d279409ba1c85f26dbdc7acb |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:7d653359d279409ba1c85f26dbdc7acb |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:7d653359d279409ba1c85f26dbdc7acb 2023-05-15T15:18:02+02:00 Techno-economic feasibility assessment of a diesel exhaust heat recovery system to preheat mine intake air in remote cold climate regions Marco Antonio Rodrigues de Brito Durjoy Baidya Seyed Ali Ghoreishi-Madiseh 2020-07-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmst.2020.05.014 https://doaj.org/article/7d653359d279409ba1c85f26dbdc7acb EN eng Elsevier http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095268620304602 https://doaj.org/toc/2095-2686 2095-2686 doi:10.1016/j.ijmst.2020.05.014 https://doaj.org/article/7d653359d279409ba1c85f26dbdc7acb International Journal of Mining Science and Technology, Vol 30, Iss 4, Pp 517-523 (2020) Exhaust heat recovery Mine energy management Mine heating Alternative energy Intake air heating Mining engineering. Metallurgy TN1-997 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmst.2020.05.014 2022-12-30T22:29:04Z Underground mines in Arctic and Subarctic regions require the preheating of mine intake air during winter. The cold fresh air of those remote areas can be as severe as −40 °C and commonly needs to be heated to around +3 °C. This extensive amount of heating is usually provided by employing large-size air heaters, fueled by diesel, propane, natural gas, or heavy oil, leading to high energy costs and large carbon footprints. At the same time, the thermal energy content of a diesel generator sets (gen-sets) exhaust is known to be one-third of the total heating value of its combusted fuel. Exhaust heat recovery from diesel gen-sets is a growing technology that seeks to mitigate the energy costs by capturing and redirecting this commonly rejected exhaust heat to other applications such as space heating or pre-heating of the mine intake air. The present study investigated the possibility of employing a simple system based on off-the-shelf heat exchanger technology, which can recover the waste heat from the exhaust of the power generation units (diesel gen-sets) in an off-grid, cold, remote mine in Canada for heating of the mine intake air. Data from a real mine was used for the analysis along with environmental data of three different location-scenarios with distinct climates. After developing a thermodynamic model, the heat savings were calculated, and an economic feasibility evaluation was performed. The proposed system was found highly viable with annual savings of up to C$6.7 million and capable enough to provide an average of around 75% of the heating demand for mine intake air, leading to a payback period of about eleven months or less for all scenarios. Deployment of seasonal thermal energy storage has also been recommended to mitigate the mismatch between supply and demand, mainly in summertime, possibly allowing the system to eliminate fuel costs for intake air heating. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Subarctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Canada International Journal of Mining Science and Technology 30 4 517 523 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Exhaust heat recovery Mine energy management Mine heating Alternative energy Intake air heating Mining engineering. Metallurgy TN1-997 |
spellingShingle |
Exhaust heat recovery Mine energy management Mine heating Alternative energy Intake air heating Mining engineering. Metallurgy TN1-997 Marco Antonio Rodrigues de Brito Durjoy Baidya Seyed Ali Ghoreishi-Madiseh Techno-economic feasibility assessment of a diesel exhaust heat recovery system to preheat mine intake air in remote cold climate regions |
topic_facet |
Exhaust heat recovery Mine energy management Mine heating Alternative energy Intake air heating Mining engineering. Metallurgy TN1-997 |
description |
Underground mines in Arctic and Subarctic regions require the preheating of mine intake air during winter. The cold fresh air of those remote areas can be as severe as −40 °C and commonly needs to be heated to around +3 °C. This extensive amount of heating is usually provided by employing large-size air heaters, fueled by diesel, propane, natural gas, or heavy oil, leading to high energy costs and large carbon footprints. At the same time, the thermal energy content of a diesel generator sets (gen-sets) exhaust is known to be one-third of the total heating value of its combusted fuel. Exhaust heat recovery from diesel gen-sets is a growing technology that seeks to mitigate the energy costs by capturing and redirecting this commonly rejected exhaust heat to other applications such as space heating or pre-heating of the mine intake air. The present study investigated the possibility of employing a simple system based on off-the-shelf heat exchanger technology, which can recover the waste heat from the exhaust of the power generation units (diesel gen-sets) in an off-grid, cold, remote mine in Canada for heating of the mine intake air. Data from a real mine was used for the analysis along with environmental data of three different location-scenarios with distinct climates. After developing a thermodynamic model, the heat savings were calculated, and an economic feasibility evaluation was performed. The proposed system was found highly viable with annual savings of up to C$6.7 million and capable enough to provide an average of around 75% of the heating demand for mine intake air, leading to a payback period of about eleven months or less for all scenarios. Deployment of seasonal thermal energy storage has also been recommended to mitigate the mismatch between supply and demand, mainly in summertime, possibly allowing the system to eliminate fuel costs for intake air heating. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Marco Antonio Rodrigues de Brito Durjoy Baidya Seyed Ali Ghoreishi-Madiseh |
author_facet |
Marco Antonio Rodrigues de Brito Durjoy Baidya Seyed Ali Ghoreishi-Madiseh |
author_sort |
Marco Antonio Rodrigues de Brito |
title |
Techno-economic feasibility assessment of a diesel exhaust heat recovery system to preheat mine intake air in remote cold climate regions |
title_short |
Techno-economic feasibility assessment of a diesel exhaust heat recovery system to preheat mine intake air in remote cold climate regions |
title_full |
Techno-economic feasibility assessment of a diesel exhaust heat recovery system to preheat mine intake air in remote cold climate regions |
title_fullStr |
Techno-economic feasibility assessment of a diesel exhaust heat recovery system to preheat mine intake air in remote cold climate regions |
title_full_unstemmed |
Techno-economic feasibility assessment of a diesel exhaust heat recovery system to preheat mine intake air in remote cold climate regions |
title_sort |
techno-economic feasibility assessment of a diesel exhaust heat recovery system to preheat mine intake air in remote cold climate regions |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmst.2020.05.014 https://doaj.org/article/7d653359d279409ba1c85f26dbdc7acb |
geographic |
Arctic Canada |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada |
genre |
Arctic Subarctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic Subarctic |
op_source |
International Journal of Mining Science and Technology, Vol 30, Iss 4, Pp 517-523 (2020) |
op_relation |
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095268620304602 https://doaj.org/toc/2095-2686 2095-2686 doi:10.1016/j.ijmst.2020.05.014 https://doaj.org/article/7d653359d279409ba1c85f26dbdc7acb |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmst.2020.05.014 |
container_title |
International Journal of Mining Science and Technology |
container_volume |
30 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
517 |
op_container_end_page |
523 |
_version_ |
1766348264939978752 |