Fuelling Savings in Tough Times: Fuel Economy
Fuelling Savings in Tough Times: Fuel Economy
Fuelling Savings in Tough Times: Fuel Economy
F
uel economy is critical to mines important to the financial performance rough patch, the need for fuel efficiency
minimising operating costs to of an operation, and the current is magnified.”
deal with the current drop in downturn in commodity prices has only Fuel savings of even just a few
Fuel represents both commodity prices and demand. increased this focus in recent years. percentage points can save thousands
the number one Fuel represents the number one Tod Stedman, product marketing of dollars per year, even in the smallest
operating cost operating cost for truck haulage – on manager, electric-drive trucks at fleet; for a large mining operation, if the
for truck average, 30-40% of operating costs, Komatsu America Corp, says: “Fuel hauling fleet can use 1% less fuel, it can
haulage and sometimes up to 80-90%, is due to economy is always important to mining mean millions of dollars in annual
Photo: Cummins fuel, so effective management is very operations, but when the industry hits a savings.
Kaushik Nagendran, mining processes to optimise such activities as their fuel costs, as well as key issues
marketing director at Cummins, says: idling and shift changes to improve fuel that are driving these changes.
“Operations managers are insisting on economy.”
accurate measurement of fuel Telematics that report such Emissions regulations
consumption, with detailed analysis to information as idle time can also be In 2004, the US Environmental
understand levers that can be pulled to used to optimise processes. Adam Protection Agency (EPA) introduced
help reduce fuel use.” Pearce, business development manager Tier 4 emission standards for large-scale
As a result, sites that were previously at Parker Racor, explains: “Whereas in off-highway vehicles. The plan, which is
focused on productivity measures such the transportation industry, economy is being phased in from 2008 to 2015,
as tonnes/hour are now looking at other the top consideration, in mining, created emission standards that
metrics such as litres/tonne. avoiding downtime is key.” required a large reduction in particulate
John Ingle, marketing and perfor- In this article we will explore some of matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides (NOx)
mance manager at Caterpillar, notes: the main technologies and strategies in off-highway engines. Similar
“What we’re hearing from customers is that mines are employing to reduce emissions standards were phased into
not necessarily requests for changes in
technology. Instead, customers are
asking about changing procedures and
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Pearce says: “Poor filtration giving maximum use out of on-board filtration detected and dealt with before being A Cat 7495
low injector cleanliness will wear and systems, not to mention the engine pumped into the equipment.” shovel and 797F
damage injection-system components, itself.” Also, removing contaminants allows trucks at the
reducing efficiency and putting In addition, while injector erosion on-board filtration systems to do their Kearl oil-sands
equipment at high risk of downtime.” can degrade fuel economy and injector job better and remain problem-free project in
Murphy agrees: “When injector wear failure is a cause of significant until regularly scheduled maintenance Alberta, Canada
is reduced, truck fleets can maintain downtime, on-board filter plugging can can be performed.
control of fuel injection over longer be just as serious if fuel is dirty or Donaldson Co recommends a
periods, and as a result, over-fuelling is unstable when pumped into the three-tiered approach:
minimised. Measuring fuel pressure vehicle. • Use of high-efficiency filtration at the
drop across filters also allows the As a result, on-board filtration inlet of a bulk tank will protect against
engine controller to optimise fuel systems have had to advance as engine taking delivery of dirty fuel;
injection, which improves fuel technology has advanced, which means • An effective breather filter on the tank
consumption and cylinder-component that they have to be extremely efficient will then help combat ambient dirt
life.” under all operating conditions (such as and moisture; and
Following OEM guidelines for filter vibration or flow fluctuation) in order to • Filtering fuel as it is being dispensed “When we
type, installation and maintenance will offer adequate protection. into the equipment is a final failsafe
result in the best possible fuel Grossbauer cautions: “But that against contamination that happens say ‘clean’,
efficiency of any engine platform. Ingle protection comes with a price, as within the tank. we’re not
notes: “We are seeing our clean-fuel high-efficiency filters can plug when
module help reduce the amount of faced with fuel issues. A plugged filter Technology focus talking
wear on fuel-system components, is a filter that has done its job, but In a bid to save its customers money, about the
including fuel pumps and injectors. This downtime is downtime, and changing Caterpillar is providing different power old ‘clear
not only keeps the fuel system on-board filters that plug without and fuel-map settings on its load-and-
operating at peak efficiency, but it also warning can be a costly headache.” haul equipment. The company has and bright’
reduces maintenance and extends the He adds: “So, when we talk about developed a suite of engine calibra- visual test.
lives of components.” fuel filtration and jobsite efficiency, it’s tions optimised for various mining haul
As HPCR engines become more important to discuss bulk filtration as cycles and environments, allowing
Diesel must
prevalent due to new emissions well as on-board filtration. By pumping customers to balance fuel cost and be clean on
standards, operations managers are fuel through a high-efficiency bulk filter, productivity concerns. a level that
learning the importance of clean diesel. any problems with the fuel can be Ingle explains: “One of the benefits
Grossbauer says: “When we say ‘clean’, you can’t
we’re not talking about the old ‘clear judge with
and bright’ visual test. Diesel must be
clean on a level that you can’t judge
the human
with the human eye, or you risk eye”
increased downtime due to plugged
on-board filters (at best) or even ruined
injectors (at worst).”
While diesel fuel is typically
delivered to bulk tanks in a state that
meets all fuel-industry specifications for
cleanliness, it is often not acceptable
by OEM standards and can be unfit for
use in the HPCR engines that have
been developed to meet Tier 4
emissions standards. A haul truck in
Grossbauer states: “As a result, a service bay
we’re seeing increased interest in bulk Photo: Donaldson
filtration, so that end-users can get Clean Solutions