An investigation into techno-economic analysis of waste heat recovery from exhaust gases of diesel generators for application in remote mining operations

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Escalating price of fossil based fuels has continuously increased the operational costs of remote mines during the last two decades. Therefore, mining companies are constantly looking for opportunities to cut these costs. Recuperating waste heat of the exhaust streams of a diesel generator and using its energy on-site mining operation can provide a unique opportunity as such. The development of this technology will result in lower operational costs and smaller carbon footprint of mining operations. Cubit Power, is working on novel technologies to help its customers in mining industry with generating power more efficiently and ultimately with lowering the cost of power generation in mining operations. One of the major issues with developing such a system is the relatively expensive and bulky heat exchangers required to remove the heat energy from the exhaust fluid. Cubit Power and its clients from mining industry have examined the pre-feasibility of recuperating waste heat of diesel gen-sets for over a year, yet research in this area is urgently required. Researchers at McGill along with experts at Cubit Power believe that the using heat pipe units for heat recovery from hot air stream exhaust gases is a viable solution to resolve this issue. Therefore, Cubit Power has asked researchers at McGill University to help them with conducting the techno-economic analysis of this technology. Cubit Power is interested in implementing the result of this project in remote mining operations. This research project investigates the techno-economic feasibility of using heat pipe technology for recovering waste heat of hot exhaust gases of diesel gen-sets. It will study the thermo-physical characteristics of waste heat streams of diesel gen-sets used in mining operations and effects of various parameters on the economic rate of return. By assessing the amount and the value of the recoverable waste heat, this study will estimate the economic and environmental benefits which can be gained by recovering diesel exhaust streams.