Regenerative Belt Conveyor versus Haul Truck-Based Transport: Polish Open-Pit Mines Facing Sustainable Development Challenges

Abstract

The mining industry is facing sustainable development challenges, among which the energy efficiency issues seem to be of major importance. As transport of the mined ore is considered as one of the most energy intensive operations, the improvement of its energy efficiency is a key indicator in terms of sustainable actions taken by mining companies. In open-pit mines, the material handling operations are mostly performed with trucks. Their electrified version—truck trolley systems—surpass diesel trucks’ efficiency while comparing the increased production capacity and the reduction of maintenance cost and fuel consumption. The paper analyzes the opportunities and benefits of the replacement of an ore transport system based on hauling trucks with a regenerative belt conveying in an open-pit mine. Presented case study has been analyzed from energy consumption and environmental impact reduction perspectives. Generally, conception of a regenerative conveyor is based on recuperation of energy or continuous braking needed while a conveyor is running downhill. Energy generated during the braking process (converted from the potential gravitational energy of the conveyed material) is fed back to the electrical grid. Then the regenerative conveyor can be considered as a machine that mines energy as an additional by-product of an exploited deposit. It was shown that difference in transportation cost between haul trucks and energy efficient regenerative conveyors is around 95%. The paper points the conditioning elements to allow the implementation of a regenerative belt conveyor system.

Modelling the Carbon Footprint of Various Fruit and Vegetable Products Based on a Company’s Internal Transport Data

“…The other factor that needs to be considered is the use of alternative material handling equipment (MHE), e.g., conveyor belt systems or automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS) that can be used in companies with significant raw material processing. These systems may not only decrease the carbon footprint of the products, but also facilitate logistics related to battery charging or refuelling of FLTs, save space in warehouses and increase the safety of products and employees [29,30]. Based on the fact that food products belong to a Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) market, which is to some degree resistant to global or national consumption fluctuations (e.g., caused by pandemics or economic crisis), the investment in new MHE solutions can bring economic and environmental gains in the long term.…”

Selection of Open-Pit Mining and Technical System’s Sustainable Development Strategies Based on MCDM

“…The energy consumption of this process exceeds the next largest energy consumption blasting process by more than four times [46]. Different authors offer various ways to improve the energy efficiency of mining such as rational planning of dump trucks [47], changing the type of energy consumed by dump trucks [48], changing the mode of transport [49], and using robotic transport systems [50].…”

“…Technical and economic factors [52] Production capacity [26] Technical equipment of the enterprise [45] Mode of transport [49] Robotic transport [50] Technological Development depth [33] Operational management [37] Planning and design, mining and mineral processing [39] Advanced technologies [40] Energy efficiency [44,46] Ore loss and dilution [44] Production capacity, technical and technological capabilities of the enterprise [45] Rational planning of dump trucks [47] Changing the type of energy consumed by dump trucks [48] Economic Economic efficiency [11] Economic [37] Marketing [43] Capital and operating expenses, discount rate, investments, depreciation [38] Economic attractiveness [40] Payback period, availability of raw materials, forecast of raw material dependence [45] Social Work safety [11,26] Social issues and human factors [37] The reputation of the mining industry from a stakeholder perspective [38] Psychological factors [44] Social aspects, risks [45] Government factors [43] Environmental Impact on the environment [11] Environmental influence [37] Mining clean production system [39] Hydrology and groundwater conditions [33] We used the groups of factors identified by us to systematize the parameters and indicators of sustainable development of the MTS. The systematization results are presented in Section 3.2.…”

Thermal Imaging Study to Determine the Operational Condition of a Conveyor Belt Drive System Structure

“…The results which are obtained by means of various measurements can be processed by dedicated software FLIR Tools [13]. Studies on the development of longwall conveyors are presented in works [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]-they are part of the innovative development of machinery and equipment [23][24][25][26][27].…”